


Red Reach

by SwordDraconis113



Series: Stolen Earth [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alien Culture, Alien Planet, Alien Succubi, Alien Technology, Aliens, Dystopia, F/F, F/M, Isolation, Science Fiction, Sexual Content, Survival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-04
Updated: 2014-04-30
Packaged: 2017-12-07 10:44:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 82,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/747627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwordDraconis113/pseuds/SwordDraconis113
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being seduced by one of the most famous women of Earth had its perks. Evangeline was a big fish in a small tank compared to the universe's seemingly unending supply of alien races. Natalia, in turn, was a nobody. Just a young girl enjoying the perks of being the lover to the Sforza's towers owner (by marriage).  </p><p>When pirates raid the space station, stealing her away, Natalia's dreams turn into a living nightmare as she's offered as a sacrifice to a creature off-world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Affairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Offered a once in a life time trip by her lover, Natalia tries to find a believable excuse to tell her mother.

“No,” Evangeline smiled at her. It was a rarity to see her express anything but mocking, or displeasure; however, the more Natalia spent with her, however, the more she’d caught a glimpse of something that resembled…peace. “I’ll keep you safe,” her lover teased, leaning in close.

“But y- we might get in trouble,” Natalia corrected as she took a step away from the woman. “The space station is-”

“Is my husband’s, and by right it is also mine.” Natalia’s mood shifted with worry. She didn’t...no. This could go wrong. She didn’t like it.

At the petulance, Evangeline sighed and reached out, cupping the young woman’s face. Natalia watched as the happiness was washed away from her lover’s expression, replaced with masked displeasure. The woman’s brown eyes narrowed, looking down at her skeptically as she flushed guiltily. Only then did Evangeline whisper, “I don’t love him, Natalia. Not like I love you.”

Her words breathed against the girl’s face, soothing Natalia’s fear. She didn’t want to know what would have happened had Evangeline allowed the blossomed anger to grow rather than still. “Why are you with him them?” Natalia asked her suddenly. “I’ll take care of you, I’ll get another job and I’ll-” she was silenced as Evangeline glared painfully at her.

“You’re too young to understand. You’re only eighteen.”

“I’ll be nineteen in six months,” she defended.

“You’re only proving my point,” Evangeline replied, her words slicing through Natalia’s pride. “You’re too young to understand and if this continues, I will leave you. I won’t have insubordination with my lovers.” Natalia felt her defence weaken at the words. Blinking, she looked down to the floor. Being reminded how replaceable she was, hurt. Billions of others would quickly jump at the chance to be with Evangeline; she was beautiful, powerful and wealthy beyond Earthen standards.

Natalia was just a girl with pretty red hair that had briefly caught her attention. She was clinging to the relationship as it was, any tighter and her hands would be snapped away from Evangeline indefinitely.

Dropping her shoulders, Natalia swallowed the soreness in her throat. She needed to give in, relax and just allow. She had to. Nodding slowly, she looked back up at Evangeline, making sure to keep her head bowed..

The woman rolled her eyes at the tears glimmering over the blue iris’. Dropping her hands, she turned away with disgust.

“This is your chance to see the stars. Not many will get to see that,” Evangelinetoldher. Natalia could see her staring out of the hotel window, looking down at the busy streets and the fog that covered over the city. “Majority of the population end up working in dead-end jobs for the rest of their boring lives. Nine out of ten are unable to have kids, some will never afford to marry. I’m giving you the opportunity to reach for the stars. Live your dream. Don’t you want that?” She looked over her shoulder, her lips twisted in disgust as she waited for a response. “Well?”

“I do.”

Evangeline turned to face her again, clearly irritated by her behaviour. “Then why the theatrics? The crying, the begging? I don’t need that. I don’t need to feel guilty for hurting you. I’m putting my marriage on the line to give you this. If he found out…” Evangeline swallowed, her mask slipping from her face before she squared her shoulders and returned her stoic expression towards Natalia. “Isn’t that enough proof of my devotion?”

“Yes. But...I don’t want to you to get in trouble or put you in danger. If that means...” Evangeline’s face flashed. Awkwardly, Natalia fumbled with long red hair as thick locks fell over her shoulder, avoiding Evangeline’s curious eyes. “If that means I never see the stars...then, that’s okay. I just, I just don’t want…” she trailed off shrugging.

Natalia could feel her cheeks redden, as a tight squeeze choked at her words. Embarrassed, she stared down at her feet peeping out beneath blue material. Evangeline never did that, never flushed or flustered. She was stoic, calm and poised, always. Even under duress.

Her expressions were rarely anything she didn’t choose to show.

Slowly Natalia took a breath and met Evangeline’s brown eyes once more, “I don’t mind giving up the stars if it means you won’t get in trouble. It’s just a dream. A silly one, anyway.”

“Oh my sweet love,” Evangeline whispered, placing her hands on either side of Natalia’s face. Natalia felt the thumbs brush over her cheekbones, sliding the tears away. “You truly are something special, are you not?” Leaning forward, Evangeline pressed her lips gently against Natalia’s. The citrus from the previously eaten berries, stained their lips and tongue. As Natalia sighed into the kiss, she could taste the acidic sweetness brushing against her tongue, over and over.

Too soon, the kiss pulled away and Evangeline was running fingers through Natalia’s hair. “I’ll take more precautions,” she promised her, “It’s secure. He never goes up there anymore.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure. He’ll think that I’ll be going over to Africa to meet with one of my writer’s. I’ve already told him that I’ll be staying for a few days relaxing. So, it will just be you and me for that time.” Lifting one of Natalia’s hands, she kissed her knuckles, stepping back. “How does that sound?”

“Just you and me?” she echoed.

“No one else will be on the space station. It’s run by an AI”

“But...what will I tell my mum? She’s alone...I don’t…I can’t.” Natalia shook her head, moving to pull away only to have her hands tugged back to Evangeline. Her heart pounded, afraid as she she looked up. Evangeline just stared at her, studying her. Moving from her eyes to where she was chewing on her lip. 

Natalia’s heart only spend up under the scrutiny. 

“You want to be with me, don’t you?” Evangeline asked.

“Of course!” Natalia exclaimed, “I want to spends all of my time with y-”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“It’s…it’s just… My mum. She’ll send the police looking for me if I don’t come home for dinner or tell her where I am. I’m all she has left.”

“Your mother needs to know that she can spend a few days without you. Eventually you’re going to leave and she has to understand that. It’s a part of growing up.”

The idea of leaving her mother forever made Natalia feel hollow. It’d always been just her and her mum. They’d been there for each other through everything. Without each other she didn’t think either could have made it through.

“She’s my mum,” Natalia said shortly, unable to articulate just what she meant beyond that.

“Well, how about you say that you’re getting sent to America from a once in a lifetime educational talk. All expenses paid. Someone dropped out last minute and they asked you. Then pack your bags and meet me outside the transportation deck in Sydney tomorrow morning. I’ll do the rest.” Evangeline kissed her cheek, her lips soft and electric against her skin. “I love you,” she whispered. “It’ll be good. This is everything you wanted, isn’t it?”

“I love you too.” Natalia watched then, as Evangeline grabbed her jacket from the back of the chair and slid it on with ease. She gave a last turn to look at Natalia, staring at her purposely before flicking the dark hair over her shoulder.Then she left, turning the brass handle of the hotel’s room and leaving without another word. It was quiet after that. 

Natalia could hear cars speeding outside the window, and other guests eating, drinking, and fucking in their rooms. Probably all falling into an affair, just as she was.

It made her feel dirty in the motel, but it was comforting to know she wasn’t alone in her misdeeds. The comfort also came with the perks of a now-empty motel room. The sex was fun, wanted almost desperately by herself andEvangeline.It was hard and fast when needed, or slow and tender as required, but there was no denying her love for the isolation that soon came after a kiss on the cheek and soft murmured declarations.

Natalia always stayed until checkout time. She reached down beside the desk and picked up her striped notebook. It had been peaking out from her bag from whereit’d carelessly tossed in the corner of the room by eager hands and a hot mouth. Fingers had fumbled, desperate to brush against skin and other clothes had soon followed the small pile.

The memory was burnt strong by her senses. She would still feel the aches the woman had left over her body. Bruises that would grow and fade. Scratches that would heal and maybe this time she wouldn’t have to cover her visible skin in concealer before returning home.

As she straightened up in the chair and placed her the notebook down on the desk, Natalia’s eyes caught sight of the sky. The sun was setting, burning an orange and amber that glowed over the city’s towers as it begun to fall behind the two Sforza towers. Sforza was the leading company that traded between other planets. They dispersed food and water to the public only after the rich had bought “their quantity”.

Evangeline had once given her a book on how the Earth used to look. There used to be trees as tall as buildings. Grass that went on for miles and were soft, flexible to stand on. The sky used to be a clear, crystal blue, and water would run clean and freely run through the countries. There had also been rainstorms that came often and filled the creeks and rivers, gushing over dry lands.

Now the Earth was barren. Void of most life form that used to exist. Earth now relied on an artificial atmosphere to recycle and keep the air breathable. Other planets had to deliver them food, water, medicines and other supplies on a month-to-month basis. Then they relied on Sforza or it’s opposing, Williams & Smith, to deliver the resources to the public.

That was only if the wealthy didn’t over buy their shares.

There wasn’t enough for the sixteen million living in her city, let alone the world’s population now.

Once, the country’s numbers barely went over a quarter billion. Now it far excelled that number. People took any jobs they could get. Families had starved and lived off the barest minimum.

Earth was a barren wasteland for the poor who couldn’t afford to leave. The numbers grew rapidly once everyone had left for the other planets. Only those like Evangeline and her husband stayed because here, they were top of the food chain. They controlled the planet and could take what they wanted.

Laws had also become lax. It was rumoured that human trafficking, drug mules, slave driving, illegal experiments and more were taken and moved from Earth. The police were overworked, or took any bribes they could get to feed their own families. Cases easily got buried in heaps and people that went missing usually stayed that way if they weren’t found in the first day.

But Natalia dreamt of a better place. She imagined waters that she could swim in, trees to climb, animals to observe and people of different species from other planets to talk to. There was technology far greater than Earth’s out there. Genetic manipulation to make your straight hair permanently curly, artificial Intelligences that could write songs better than any song writer. There was even a species of aliens that was said to be able to see and paint your soul.

Natalia dreamt of visiting those places. Mostly she dreamt of the stars. Seeing what laid beyond the atmosphere in person. There were photographs and holographic imaging of them, but with all the light pollution on Earth, no one on the planet ever saw the stars until they left the toxic atmosphere. Only the privileged ever rose above to see the stars.

People didn’t want to visit Earth so transportation to and from Earth was far more expensive than other places. The exception being to deliver supplies, and though people tried, piggy backing on the delivery ships was punishable by death. Natalia doubted that any who attempted to leave, actually made it. Not that it mattered. What would they do when they get there? Hide in the same slums that existed here on Earth, just with isolation from their own friends and family.

But Evangeline was going to take her up there, to see the stars. She was going to see the universe and for a moment, be able to see what all the rich could whenever they wanted to. She’d be one of the elite.

Shutting her eyes, she took a moment to imagine what it would be like to set foot on the space station, to look out through one of the windows and just see the stars, the galaxy, with her own eyes. Perhaps she’d breathe in stardust, feel her skin prickle with the cosmos. Would she feel alive? Awoken?

Her body shivered at the thought.

It would be beautiful, she imagined, breath taking and captivating. She’ll probably cry when she has to leave, and beg Evangeline to take her again. Then she would end up working and saving every single cent until she could afford to leave the planet after tasting what her life could be like.

She couldn’t wait.

Excitement was bubbling inside of her as she thought of the word tomorrow. Her fingers hovering over her notebook, then curling back. The sooner she went to sleep, the sooner she’d see the stars.

Gathering her things together, Natalia dressed, leaving the room as she threw her jacket back on. The door clicked shut behind her and with a rush she was running down the hall and pushing through to the stairs.

Taking the stairs two at a time, she felt a giggle rise up in her chest, bubbling out of her. She was going to see the stars. The stars. The entire idea was wonderful, magical and...

Skidding, she grabbed the metal railing to stop from falling down the stairs. She had to slow down. Running now would only end in disaster. Shutting her eyes, she took a breath, tilting her head up to look at the stairwell running above. Somewhere, far above was the sky, the galaxy. Colours unheard of, unseen would fracture through the window and crumble in the dust.

Nervously, Natalia licked her lips. She had to think of something to tell her mum. Something believable. A once-in-a-lifetime trip didn’t make sense. Her mother thought she was lazy and she’d never believe that the school would offer her something like that. It couldn’t be for work-

Oh shit. Work, she remembered in horror.

Digging in her bag, she pulled out her phone, her fingers tapping wildly on the electronic keyboard. The response was immediate.

I’’ll make a call. But it’s going to cost you.

\- ES

A thrill went down Natalia’s spine as she read the blocked letters before stuffing her phone away. Evangeline and payment were two very delicious things in a bittersweet way.

Her entire body seemed to hum as she swung the bag back onto her shoulder and slowly dawdled her way home. Tonight, she would think of the possibilities for Evangeline’s payment, right now she had to focus on an excuse for her mother.

She could lie. Tell her mother that she had a last-minute project to do with a friend and she’d be staying there to work on it. That was more believable than Evangeline’s suggestion. But her mother would pester her about the assessment and then pester her about the mark after that. Eventually she would snap and admit what happened.

Sighing, she adjusted her coat and stepped out onto the footpath.

A crowd of people submerged her and slowly she followed the path of people towards the first bus stop. Looking at her watch, she checked the time, then the timetable. She turned, just in time to see that her bus had pulled up.

People bustled on and off and Natalia managed to squeeze herself on, quickly swiping her card for the trip. If she was lucky, she’d just make that three hour time limit and get the free bus ride. Her luck, however, was unfortunate and the money came up, warning she only had enough money on her card for more two bus trips.

Sticking the card back in her pocket, she stretched her neck, thinking over the card. She’d burned through a years worth of bus trips in two months. Bringing up a platinum card with her mother would result in her fumbling for an excuse as to why she’d done over six hundred trips in such a short time. And there was no way she was going to bring it up with Evangeline. The woman pampered her enough. It wasn’t fair to continue taking money from her.

The trip on the bus was only a half hour, but it settled nothing in her mind. She still didn’t have an excuse and when she finally pushed into her tiny abode, that could fit in Evangeline’s guest bedroom ensuite, her mother was sitting at the kitchen table, a glass of wine already poured.

“You’re home early,” she murmured, looking away from the computer screen. With a click of the button, the interface disappeared and Natalia sighed. It was going to be one of those nights.

Her dog, started barking at her feet, suddenly hearing she was home.

Leaning down, Natalia petted him before looking back up to the half empty bottle of wine beside her mother. “Did you have a bad day?” she asked.

“It was a day.”

Natalia nodded and moved away.

“I got a phone call today,” her mother said suddenly.

“Mm?”

“From your school.”

Natalia froze, slowly turning around to see her mother’s face. The woman’s face was weathered, expressionless. She stared at Natalia through piercing eyes before slowly smiling. “They said you’re going on a trip tomorrow. Someone dropped out. You just need to make you way to the airport and you’ll be studying for some time or something.” She waved her hand, going for the wine glass to take a healthy sip. “I’m proud of you. You’re finally showing some initiative.”

Nervously, Natalia shifted on her feet, smiling awkward. “Thanks mum.” Looking away, she avoided her mother’s eyes, feeling nauseous. It’d been years since her mother had ever said those words, and they weren’t for something real.

It felt like cheating.

“Are you going to pack your bags?” she asked.

“You sure you’re okay with this?” Natalia returned. “I don’t want…” to leave you alone. The words were unsaid, but her mother waved a hand at her dismissively, pretending last year hadn’t happened.

“I’ll be fine. I can cook for myself, you know.”

“I know.” She swallowed back any other words and smiled at her mother, nodding. “Alright. I’ll go pack. It’s an early start.”

“Oh. Natalia?”

“Yes Mum?”

“How long have you known about this?”

Natalia shrugged. Looking up at her mother. She wasn’t angry, just tired. Tired with her maybe, or tired with life. Desperately, she hoped for the former. She didn’t know what else to do. 

“When were you going to tell me about this? You weren’t going to just get up in the morning and leave a note, were you?” The idea had crossed her mind briefly on the bus but it’d been immediately dismissed. As cowardly as she could be when it came to confrontation with her mother, she had more balls than that. “Were you?”

Natalia shrugged. “I only found out today. It was a last minute drop-out. The person must have had a family emergency or something.” Digging around her her bag, she pulled out her mobile and quickly type a short message.

_I owe you twice._

“Well good. This is good for you. It’ll open up some doors.” 

Natalia smiled, her stomach twisting nervously. “I’m looking forward to it.”


	2. Void

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She woke alone in darkness, vague memories filling her mind. Nothing was right.

Natalia woke, gasping. Her eyes flashed over the darkness. There was nothing. Gagging she recoiled back against the dirt ground. The darkness was damp. A heavy, thick smell clogged her throat, tugging at her gag reflex. It was like the rotting corpses before they were burnt in the local incinerator. 

Memories swarmed her as she blindly searches her surroundings. She’d seen and smelt the bodies on a school field trip. It was supposed to have been a scare-tactic, an education so they’d understand what awaited for them if they didn’t work hard. But Evangeline had sat her down one day and-

Evangeline...Eve…Eve had been with her. They’d been at the space station. Looking out on the observation deck when…

“Evangeline?” she called out, voice hoarse. The darkness echoed the call. Slowly she rolled onto her knees, feeling grit and rubble graze against her skin. Her dress was torn. Shaking, she ran her finger over the material, fingering the rips and stains. She could tell that it could never be repaired, not to how it used to be.

She could still patch it, maybe. Pass it off as just another one of the prettier-than-most dresses, but it wouldn’t be perfect.

Natalia shook her head. The dress didn’t matter. She had to focus

Squeezing her eyes shut, she pushed through the resonating head ache. She remembered the sound of the rip. There had been a shouting before she’d pulled away, scrambling for Evangeline arms and someone had grabbed at her skirt as she broke away briefly only to be pulled back into their tight grasp.

She remembered being lifted as she screamed, begged and cried. Then she’d been carried through the station’s hallways. Watching as they took Evangeline elsewhere.

She remembered big, burly men – no. They’d been alien, not human. She’d felt their skin, their…shells. It’d been hard, smooth and somewhat flexible. They’d been grey, with glowing streaks of brown makings in-between layers of the exoskeletons. She hadn’t see their eyes, but their hands had three thick fingers and a thumb that had held around her waist.

She remembered short tusks as well. One had scraped against her before she was dragged back from where she’d escaped. Reaching to where she was struck, she felt a scrape. Dried blood, not much. It was barely a mark.

But her memories blurred there.

She crawled forward, knees scraping against the unknown rubble. Her head pounded in resistance as she pushed further in her memories, desperate for something. Dully remembered falling…or been thrown into an archway, her consciousness had swum as lights flickered brightly through shades of red, slowly swaying. Her hair had fallen over face in a curtain of soft tendrils. Painfully, she’d gave in, allowing herself to be carried through the transportation hub.

She’d been so tired. So scared. She just wanted to wake up from that surreal nightmare.

But in glimpses, eyes blinking heavily, she’d seen others marched away, other humans. Gaunt in expression, dirty and pale. There had been no fight in them, no protests. Nothing. But they had come from below somewhere, from deep inside the space station.

Evangeline blinked then, stopping her movement. How? The station had been empty. Eve had said so.

Shutting her eyes, Natalia grabbed at the knots of red. Her hair was matted against her skull and dirt itched as she shook her head, shutting her eyes against the pulsing headache. 

A screech sounded. Natalia stopped, a chill shaking down her spine.

Deep within the cave, it echoed like a sonar. She froze, her gut dropping as she waited, feeling the ground vibrate from the sound.

No. No, no, no. No!

Jaw tight and a sob hiccuping through she, Natalia pulled back. She fell onto her back, head slamming against the ground and a gasp ripped through her. She swallowed it back, biting her tongue to stop from crying as she rolled onto her knees. Now was not the time to be weak, now was the time to think.

Eve. Evangeline where are you? Please be okay, please oh please. Her thoughts hurried, running over and over until the pleades were meaningless sounds as she fearfully crawled away from the sonar.

Natalia’s arms pulled, her muscles feeling like thick knots cramping as she tried to scramble away. She didn’t care about pain. She was too scared to feel anything but tight throbs that ripped over her skin, clenching at her arms.

She didn’t hiss, didn’t hiccup. She didn’t even sniffle and instead rubbed her nose against her shoulder, feeling the mucus wet on her skin.

She just needed to escape.

The was no light to guide her. Only darkness. With one hand she pushed herself onto her feet as the other clutched at her headache. The sound was getting louder, making it harder to stand as she tried to run blindly.

Her right hand scrambled for the wall, needing something to guide her. It was only as she fell to her knees again that she realized that she didn’t the know the geography of the area. She’d heard and read too many stories where someone was stuck in a cave with a beast. Running blindly would make her trip, fall. Stumble into who knows what. There could be a sudden drop, a hole, jagged rocks or anything.

Whatever was behind her didn’t need any help.

Grasping, her right hand hit the rock wall. She crouched, remaining low on the ground, her other hand reaching out. She had to keep moving, had to find light and…

And then what? Right now she wanted to curl up in a ball, cry and let whatever was making the noise kill her. She hurt. She wasn’t brave or strong. She wasn’t some big damn hero. She was tired and in pain and weak.

That’s what her mother used to say: weak. Lazy. She was always weak or lazy. Never strived for anything, never tried, never-

No. She had to keep moving. This wasn’t about her job. This was a life or death situation and she’d promised herself that she wouldn’t give up until she’d at least gotten married. Or had a kid. Whatever came first.

Get to the next point. Just keep moving.

Biting her tongue, Natalia squeezed her eyes shut and pushed through the aches in her body. She could do this. She had to go home and see her mum. Her mum couldn’t live without her. After Caroline and her dad...her mum had difficulty doing anything anymore. She relied on her.

She had to get through this.

At least it’ll make a good story, maybe even a movie, bitterly, the back of Natalia’s thoughts rose up. She would have laughed if her body didn’t feel so hollow and numb by what had happened.

She knew she shouldn’t have gone up in the space station. Desmond must have known about her and Evangeline, he must sent someone to get rid of her.

But...that didn’t explain the others she’d seen, rising from below the space station, or why there’d been so many of those things on the station’s deck. One had been enough to get her and there’s been about a dozen of the aliens on the space station. Her eyes squeezed tighter, her headache tearing as she pushed through the memories.

What if...what if Evangeline was here?

Just lying, gasping and unaware of what was coming for her.

The screechingstopped as suddenly as it had started, and Natalia held her breath at the silence. Then, the cave filled with a different sound.

When she was twelve, she’d broken her arm, the doctor’s had to snap it back into place, but nothing sound like that. That crackling sound was bone, she knew in her gut that it was bone, but she’d never heard such a noise before. Whatever it was, it was crunching the bones. Splintering and grounding them.

Natalia panicked then, drawing in a breath before she was aware that her lungs were bursting for it. Scrambling back against the wall, she fumbled,before pushing on, away from the sound.She didn’t think coherently, didn’t think. All there was inside of her was blind panic.

She tried to ignore the sounds, tried not to cry but she could feel tears and mucus spluttering through her sobs and running down her face into the dirt. She rubbed her face with her arm as she tried to pushed on, but her hair tangled in the mess and her throat gasped at the pain. She gave another short tug, feeling strands rip out of scalp as she bit her tongue.

It hurt but the pain was gone within moments, leaving nothing but prickled eyes.

She could do this, she had to. She had to fight her feelings, her emotions and push forward. She felt sharp pain in her joints, sudden pain as she slammed against rocks edge, the sharp edges slicing against her skin. These were nothing, she could do this.

Her eyes would squeeze shut, blinking at itching tears while she forced a steady breath and kept moving to the next point.

God she hoped that thing didn’t have a good sense of smell, or that there was too much decay, too much blood for it to notice her.

Bile rose in throat at the idea before she pushed it down with her tears. She could feel her stomach churning between disgust and guilt, hoping for too many bodies and her to be the unknown. She didn’t need to think about it, didn’t want to, but she prayed. She also prayed for them to be already dead.

She prayed because she had to survive: for herself, for her mum, for...Evangeline. If she was taken by Desmond’s command, then there was a chance that she could still see Evangeline again.

Maybe she’d prove his illegal acts, gain all the money and settle down with her?

No, that was certainly too much to ask.

But her mother needed her. And, Koala, their dog. He was just a small dog, helpless. He had ears as big as his head. He loved meeting new people, disliked other dogs and was relatively easy to look after. He needed her. Mostly he ate their left overs, but would her mother remember to feed him, walk him? Would she remember that he needled to be coddled when the ships arrived to give supplies, and that he loved to watch documentaries about reptiles.

For them, she nodded. She would survive for them. They needed her. The government funding and their savings wouldn’t be enough for more than a year without her.

That was if the galaxy’s Union didn’t go through another purge.

But the population was edging close to restrictions again. There had been two in her time. The first had been when she was twelve. Caroline had only been six or seven. The Union hadn’t delivered the food for the month. The riots that broke out had been the biggest cause of death.

The second purge had been a plague, it killed over five percent of the population. 

There were rumors of course, that there’d been a purge over a hundred years before the ones she’d been witnessed to. People whispered that they made it so only one in five were fertile. People who could reproduce, like her mother, usually had children in the large numbers. People made a lot of money having kids for other people. A couple of thousand could be made for some people, but millions if they were aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

Her mother refused when she knew that she could have children. Her dad didn’t. But it was different for him. He didn’t have to carry the child. It was easy money for him, and it kept them finically secure for a long while.

The screeching began again. Natalia held her breath pausing only briefly before she scrambled forward, moving harder and faster. Her mind had slowed at the thought of Koala, and in turn, she had too. She couldn’t let that happen, not again.

Natalia sniffed, wiping the back of her hand against her face again, making sure not to tangle it this time. The screeching stopped suddenly and she froze.

Had it heard her?

The muffled sound of furious crunching was heard and Natalia felt her self relax briefly before her stomach rolled violently, and she vomited onto the dirt.

Weak, her thoughts whispered as she dry reached. Repressing it, she gulped in air before continuing to crawl forward again. Her body shivered and stumbled, but the prickling fear on her spine kept her aching body moving.

She’d give anything to get into a fight with her mother now. Hear her call her weak, or lazy and all of the above. She’d give anything if it meant she could curl up in her own bed with Koala curled around the back of her legs.

She’d kiss her mother’s cheek, work twice as hard at her jobs and never strive to leave home ever again. Never head for the stars. Dream of being anything but absolute unimpressive and average.

Her boss was right, dreams were wasted on the privileged and children. They had work to do, families to feed and a home to maintain. There wasn’t time to stare dreamily out the window and reach for the stars.

It only got you killed.

Her left hand fell deeply into something wet, tipping her balance. She recoiled, yelping as she fell backwards with the idea of blood or acid. When fear subsided and the sound of crunching still echoed, Natalia allowed her thoughts to steady.

She would have noticed if the was the acid, and it wasn’t sticky enough to be blood. Her reaction had been idiotic. Edging forward, she sniffed the air, tapping the deep puddle tentatively with her fingers. It was cool, wet and it smelt like water - the real stuff that she only got at Evangeline’s, not what came out clouded from the tap.

Natalia swallowed dryly, still tasting bile on her tongue. She hadn’t realized how thirsty she was, but her chapped lips and sore throat now ached for the water that she eagerly gulped at. Drinking it in desperately before she gave up and threw her head in the puddle to drink in mouthfuls. She pulled out for a breath and was ready to go for another when she heard the sound of screeching again. Reminding her that she was still on the run.

Whatever it was, it was looking for her, and the others. She had no idea how many others could be in its path, how many she may have passed without realizing.

She hadn’t felt any...maybe, maybe she was at the end? Her mind was fogged, couldn’t think, didn’t want to. She just wanted to-

A cry broke the air, and Natalia realized just how not-alone she was.

“Help, help! Help! Please god, no, no, get away! Get away from me!” Natalia listened to the cries, knowing it was too late to even consider going back for the, though she knew she couldn’t. They were too far, too deep back in the depths.

Then before she could curse and crawl backwards to help, a loud crack snapped the sound. There was nothing after that, and she wanted to throw-up again.

Move.

She reached forward, putting her hand into the water. The idea of swimming through unknown was almost as terrifying as what she could run into if she kept to the walls. Something could drag her under and keep there. She didn’t know how deep the water was, and she’d barely learnt how to swim. No, it was too dangerous.

And water this pure implied that she wasn’t on Earth. She might to be off-world somewhere. All the Earthen water had been drained, and no beast like what she was sounding, was even rumored to exist on Earth. She had to be on another planet. 

Her heart ached, wondering how far away from home she was. Travel back to Earth was…no, she couldn’t think about that. She had to focus about getting out of the cave first.

She crawled until her fingers touched the other wall then brushed down to the ground. There wasn’t any water in front of her there. Slowly she moved forward again, her left hand trailing along the wall and her right hand crawling. She moved, never stopping. Even has her knees scraped war, her arms shaking in exhaustion, she kept moving.Until…

Until her left no longer touched the wall but fell through it. Wait. No. A gasp sounded, desperate and hopeful as she turned and trailed around the wall space. It was a hole. There was a hole in the wall!

Her hands scraped the edges. It wasn’t big enough for her to stand it, but it could lead her out, or at least, out of the beasts path. The thing was moving faster than she could and eventually it would catch her.

Her mind touched on that something else could be inside the small tunnel, but she didn’t have time to worry about that. This was her only chance.

She ignored the fear, crawling through the hole, and feeling her breath echo around her. It was wide enough for her to turn around in and...and there was a draft! It was faint, distant but she could feel it, smell it!

Her heart rate escalated with relief as she hurried, pushing against the cold draft and deeply breathed in the clean air. It was crisp like she’d never felt, sharply paining her lungs as she tried to breathe it all in with each gulp.

The smell of rot seemed to have left. She could smell mould and feel the dampness, but the draft of air kept her moving forward, causing her to mostly forget the beast. Her thoughts raced hopefully back to her mother, back to home and too what could come. Natalia felt her eyes well up, her throat constrict with tight emotion as she longed for her home.

She almost couldn’t breathe.

“Please,” she whimpered softly, her voice hoarse. Crying again. Her limbs began to shake violently with exhaustion. Her body ached, begging desperately for her to stop. Slowly her relief and adrenaline declined and as she thought of home, she thought of sleep and how tired she was. She had to rest, if only for a moment.

Curling up with her back against the wall, she took a breath and shut her eyes.

She was tired, but she felt safer here, too tired to be afraid. There were no sounds of movement in the small tunnel. Nothing that hinted towards anything. She was also certain that the beast was too big to fit into the tunnel and wouldn’t follow her. Why else would it eat all those people? Surely it had to be massive for such an appetite.

Closing her eyes, she rested briefly. Not fully allowing herself to sleep, but finally allowing herself to recharge and rest her arms and legs.

She’d be riddled with infection once she got out, wherever she got out. Hunger was already yearning inside of her and she hadn’t drunk nearly enough to sustain her thirst for long. Other needs had to be taken care of too. A headache was still pounding her head, and her legs and back longed to stretch out.

But...she had so far to go. How was she to get back to Earth if she truly wasn’t there any more?

It was only then that she realized how hopeless this was. Who was to say what would be outside of the cave? It could be a mountain that’d she fall to death at, or a jungle covered in other beasts more deadly than the last. Perhaps it would be a barren land that would roast her with arid heat.

She didn’t know how to survive much, she was just a girl! She worked in an office doing invoices and directing people’s calls! She knew nothing about the wilderness and how to spot the differences between poisonous and edible plants, or where to find water in a desert, or what the fuck to do on a freaking mountain! Especially not on another planet.

Covering her mouth, she felt her body convulse with sobs. Her hand slammed down onto the rock and pain coursed through her body, making her roll onto her side. The cry lasted long and hard until exhaustion took over.

She needed to stop thinking. Forget everything she knew. Sounds could potentially get her killed. She needed to be quiet, ignore pain and deal with everything later. There was no future to think about except that her mum and Koala would need her. She needed to think about them, about Evangeline’s smile on the space station before everything went to hell, and she needed to live in the moment and go from there.

Everything else could be dealt with later.

Her eyes grew heavier as she tried to open then. Slowly, she curled up against her self again, allowing true rest. She didn’t know how much time had passed since she’d woken in the darkness instead of the space station. Maybe an hour? It felt like she was in a stasis where neither light nor time existed.

All she’d been doing was running and listening to the sound of bones cracking and a muffled scream. How long did it take the beast to eat someone?

Her mind passed, verging on thoughts before it fell asleep. She was tired. That was enough of a reason. Her mind slowed down, thoughts crumbling into darkness.

Dreams seemed to verge in and out. Trees she’d climbed until she was inside their branches. Evangeline holding her in their motel room until she’d beg her to read the completed book. The memories surrounded her in shades of happiness, allowing her to relax until she finally opened her eyes again.

She was even more tired and sore than before, but she felt better. The echoes of the dream making her forget the dangers she was still in.

Stretching out, she blinked at the darkness before she remembered.

She wouldn’t cry this time. Her heart felt heavy, and a painful spout of fear shot through her abdomen turning to nausea. Mostly, she felt numb. Like there was a block between her and her emotions. They were there. They existed, but she couldn’t feel them.

Natalia moved onto her hands and knees, testing her body and finding it stiff but usable. The crawling became lazier, less desperate as she sniffed the draft and continued searching for where it came from.

A part of her hoped that the sky wasn’t like Earth’s. She wanted to see the stars and the moon – if the planet had its own moon. Maybe she’d see another planet near this one’s atmosphere, like on Jyuveora.

Natalia laughed at the possibilities, clinging to the idea of experience as she edged her way through the tunnel. It narrowed in areas where she found her claustrophobia, and widened in some areas where she could almost stand on her feet. No other bodies of water were found, but the area was humid, clogging almost. Water existed, in large quantities on this planet, maybe.

It was odd to feel feel humidity. She rarely felt it on Earth. Earth was arid, you could hide in shadows, but here even the darkness seemed to choke her, making the walls of the cave feel closer to her.

Sweat clung to her, and she already could smell her ripe stench, but it didn’t matter. For once, she barely cared. Though the scratches on her knees and the back of her hands needed to be cleaned, who knew what was getting into her bloodstream.

But it was another thing to worry about later. When she could smell the infection she would probably begin to worry, for now it was at the back of her mind, along with the need for food and water.

Dully, she thought of how much she’d rather painkillers over food. She could wait a few hours for food, she’d lived with starvation before and she could wait again. The growing headache as well as the scrapes and bruises however, she’d rather not feel. There was nothing to do for them except try not to think about it.

She tried to think about a long cool shower, soap. Medicine and a soft bed. Hell, right now she’d take freshly washed comfy clothes, but she had nothing.

Nothing but the damned blue dress.

She preferred pants, preferred her practical black pants, the red long-sleeved shirt and the jacket over dresses. She worked in those closed, did interviews, parties, everything. They were enough for her. She didn’t need anything else, but Evangeline liked her in blue because they “brought out” her eyes. And she liked her in the dress because they made her more “womanly”.

She liked dresses and skirts, she liked how beautiful they were (as well as she remembered wearing skirts when she was younger and spinning in them) but she didn’t like how bare her legs felt. She felt exposed to the world and it was only Evangeline’s hand on the mid of her back or touching her hand, that made her feel secure.

She also loved how Evangeline would stare at her. It made her feel special to be looked at like that. No one ever looked at her with such desires.

She moved forward suddenly before her fingers touched on something. Flinching, she brought her hand quickly to her chest, she sat back on her feet and shakily picked up the object. It was long and thin, a bone maybe?No, it had too many bumps. She grabbed either side of it and snapped it. She almost sobbed at the sound, remembering Evangeline snapping something similar in her garden.

“A stick,” she whispered into the darkness, “it’s a stick.” Her fingers ran over it for comfort, before she clutched the two pieces between her two hands and touched them to her forehead, singing out a silent thankful prayer to any deity listening.

Tears slipped hotly down her cheek as she clutched the twig to herself. All she needed now was light.

Natalia shut her eyes, feeling the draft. Was it stronger than before? It certainly sounded like it was getting louder, a soft whisper against the walls. She crawled, finding energy as the stick pressed into hand sharply. She was too thankful for it to adjust her grip as she hurried forward.

It was only a few metres before the tunnel widened and suddenly there was light. Not a lot, but it was enough to see a hole above her, one she could crawl up.

Her eyes blinked rapidly, hurt by the sudden dilation of her iris, but she felt herself again weaken her hold as she laughed thankfully up at it.

The light showed that she was crawling through something somewhat like a burrow of sorts. Or perhaps a hole someone had dug into. She didn’t take a moment to care, and hurried to the light before her body froze at a sound. She was only a few feet from the light, her arm raised to take another pace forward when the sound came again.

Rustling could be heard above. Scenarios were filling her mind, many of them terrifying. Slowly she edged forward as silent as possible, her eyes never leaving the light even as they painfully dilated again.

She was too close to pull back and find another way, if there was even another way that she could find in time.

Swallowing a dry lump in her throat, she edged forward, peeking out at the hole above her to see if she could see anything. Her head immediately ducked away at movement before a sigh of relief caught in her throat. It was only trees moving in the wind. Through the branches, light was filtering through, moving shadowing down the hole onto the ground.

She should have noticed before but panic had her careless and stupid.

Never before had she been so thankfully that she wasn’t a soldier. High risk jobs like that required quick decisions and right now, she knew she’d failed at them.

Standing up, Natalia reached, using her hands to grab at the mouth of the hole. Straining, she attempted to lift her self up before falling back. It was higher that she’d first thought. Glaring, she grabbed at the edges again and tried harder, refusing to let go and give up momentarily as her arms weakened.

She fell again, stumbling to the ground this time. Frustration burned her as she glared up at the moonlight. No. She would not get so close to freedom and fall back.

The next time she fell, pent up frustration came out as a frustrated, low groan, but she tried again and again until at last! She finally found herself on ground again, rolling sideways onto...onto grass. Her fingers stroked, her cheek rubbing against it. It was both soft and itchy, sliding against her skin.

Laughter bubbled her chest as the feeling of the soft plant. It was beautiful! A murky grey in the moonlight, but so very beautiful and soft, flexible beneath her weightIs. When she rolled, the blades bounced back, unhurt. Laughing softly, hysterically, she found herself rolling over it, taking in the feeling of the grass, feeling it brush over exposed skin. Her eyes only opened as she relaxed back and stared up at the sky.

Relief made her tremble and relax, smiling as she blinked up at the cosmos.

It was stunning, extraordinary. Trees filtered the light, but she could still see the moon and the stars. God, the stars were beautiful. Faded colours and twinkling lights were scattered and dragged over a black canvas, looking down at her. Is this what Earth have been like, centuries ago?

Her body relaxed and she stared for a few seconds before she found herself crying. Big, heavy sobs that struck her body in heavy convulses. Her throat ached, and her sense became overwhelmed with the sharp smell of flora suddenly.

Never so desperately had she wanted to run to her mother and seek comfort like a child. She felt vastly alone in a universe that was immensely larger than she could comprehend. Knowing and being aware were two strikingly different things, and It shook her as she finally understood just how big the universe could be.

How insignificant she was to it.

Eventually the sobs quietened down and it was only the need to seek dry shelter that pushed her onto her feet and forced her to wipe the tears from her eyes.

Looking down at herself, she noticed that her blue dress, almost midnight in colour beneath the moon, was near shredded. Gashes and small holes were all over it, but it was still more than nothing.

On shaking legs, she pushed forward and searched for cover. Her hands trembling by her sides as she looked around. Trees covered the areas, some climbing, reaching up to touch the skies. Others seem to be stretching in all directions.

Numbly she walked, on some level, admiring the alien plantation and listening for any sounds of danger. There was one tree, alone with space around it as though other trees were afraid to grow near it. It had branches that seemed to swallow the tree in a bell-like cover. Dully, she stumble forward and pushed past the branches. The tree was arched over from one side with long branches and leaves that trailed over the grass in a bell shape, leaving a clearing inside, hidden from the sky and outside view. Natalia could hide in, beneath it, feeling the expanse more apparent as the wind was restricted to brushing against the dome-like branches.

There wasn’t any grass in the clearing, nor was there anything edible, just rocks and dirt and grass, but it was enough. She may have only slept an hour before, or it made have a day.God, without time she could have slept for days and not realised, but she was tired again, and it was dark outside. Until morning– if there was a solar rotation close to a usual earthen one– she couldn’t see herself searching for anything to eat or drink.

Civilisation was also another thing that mulled over her thoughts. Was there any to begin with? If so, would they be friendly or hostile? Would they understand her? Because until injected with translator microbes (which was only on more integrated multi-cultured planets) she would be unable to understand them.

She was thinking too far again, worrying too much. She had to take this one step at a time. Shutting her eyes, she quieted her thoughts and focused back on home, on her mother and Koala, on food and a warm bed, a shower and-

Gunfire went off. Natalia knew that sound. It wasn’t made with black powder like they used to (and remained to on Earth). It was a pulse. She’d heard it once before and it wasn’t a sound she was likely to forget. Rising her eyes, she saw, even through the branches, green light filter the sky, before it dispersed.

Evangeline had told her about them; pulses came in different colours for different ammo. Green, she remembered being told, was for a small weapon. But it was hard to remember, Evangeline had been indulging her with conversation, playing to her interests as she undressed her. It was hard to remember anything but nimble fingers quick to unbutton.

But it didn’t matter how big the weapon was. What mattered was that there was someone out there who’d fired a shot.

Her choices were slim. She could either run out and find new cover further in the forest, or she could hide and hope they didn’t find her. Without knowing how close they were, she’d either lead herself into danger or remain in it.

Panic set over her, and she struggled to keep her breath quiet. She was sore, infected and tired. Running wasn’t an option unless it was short term. She could, of course, make that short run and dive for the hole, but if they followed it’d be like shooting fish in a barrel. These aliens either had good eyesight in the dark, or they had a light of some sort.

Natalia made her choice and curled up tightly in a ball against the tree trunk, trying to remain as still as possible as she kept her limbs from shaking. Short shivers began at her fingers and ran down her arms, then her spine until her whole body shook inside the tree’s covering.

It was ridiculous, pathetic, she believed, for her to be so easily distraught and brought to a tiny ball. She should have been born brave, someone who had nerves of steel. Instead she quivered like a child.

There was a sound of footsteps that past, shadows flickering where the leaves were thinner. Then there was lighter, quicker and clumsier steps that followed behind them. A small shadow, perhaps a child? A pet? Or maybe another race?

They came to a halt, and noises that sounded nothing except like half whispered words sucked in a tight breath. Was that their natural language? She wondered. It was somewhat pleasing to hear though she couldn’t imagine what singing would sound like in their language.

Did they sing?

The branches rustled and a tiny, yellow scaled head poked through. Natalia yelped, pulling herself back into the tree before she scrambled to run. She pushed through thick branches clumsily, feeling it scrape and drag against her dress before she broke through.

Running straight into the other creature, knocking him off balance as she fell back onto the ground.

Frozen in freight, she stared up at it. The creature was dressed in big black boots, a thick brown coat, which beneath she could see a grey shirt poking through. His hand, though she wasn’t sure of gender, rested on the pulse pistol by his side. Behind him, a long tail flickered. She was reminded of a toad with his large eyes that blinked with four separate eyelids at her as he tried to speak (all of which was used by a long thing tongue she could see hissing behind white lips).

“I don’t...I don’t understand,” she begged. “I’m from Earth. I haven’t...I haven’t got microbes.” Tears poured down her eyes and the alien stopped, suddenly thinking.

“I...are…not...here...hurt...your,” he said with a slow intake of breath. It was foreign the way his mouth moved around the words, but the tongue worked well enough to form the words. It was only then that Natalia noticed the goggles on his head. He was bald, but scaled.

“I…” she trailed off frowning, “what do you want?”

“Follow...us...food…spoke germs.”

She shook her head, “No. No please, I just want to go home.”

“We…verbal…”

Natalia paused, staring at the pulse pistol. Slowly she watched him holster it.

“Follow...food…roof…health,” he said again. Swallowing, she looked back up to face him. She didn’t have another option. He was offering her a words…? Or an ability to speak? She wasn’t sure.

Natalia frowned, terrified but she understood what was happening. Slowly, she watched his son snake around behind the legs and look at her with wide eyes. Briefly, he turned and looked at his father, speaking in the previous tongue that was unfamiliar before the father turned back and nodded at Natalia.

She could still run, she realised. They would probably let her too. But her chances of survival were slim. And he hadn’t shot at her, she could see the son carrying a two headed bird-like creature on his back now, his own gun, much smaller, slung on his waist. It was likely that they had been hunting for food and at heard her in the trees.

Nodding slowly, Natalia gave the reptilian creatures a shaky smile as she slowly rose to her feet to follow them. Her stomach fluttering with worry, but it wasn’t coiled tightly in fear. She trusted them, to a degree. Or believed that they wouldn’t hurt her

It wasn’t much to go on, and a part of her still believed it would get her killed, but for that moment, when she looked at the kid who seemed to smile at her, it was enough.


	3. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She hoped, she wanted to trust them. But she was so tired she'd believe anything.

She had drunk in the smell quickly, the delicious aroma of the wood fire running through her. Not even her father's old work had smelled so wondrous, so intoxicating. Her head swam in the scent, even as she fidgeted, eyes darting around, she felt her mind lull dangerously.

Natalia turned to look where the two aliens stood. There was one, similar to the father in height, wearing a loose fitting black dress. Natalia assumed that it was his wife as she watched the father brush over the alien's cheek.

The wife murmured something then nodded sharply, eyes narrowing as she walked away to a separate room. Natalia hoped she wasn't calling a rift in their marriage. The last thing she wanted to do was get between a family.

But before she could apologise, the wife returned with a medical kit, pulling out a syringe between scaled fingers. Natalia struggled at the sight of the needle, her mind running with terrifying thoughts. A sedative to make her immobile? A poison to destroy her nervous system? Or something worse, something unknown? Scrambling backwards, she went to run, heading for the exit when a hand grasped her.

"No!" she struggled, but he held tighter. "Please let me go. Please, I won't-"

"Hush child. Make easier to speak," he said softly. Natalia stared at the syringe, watching it come closer. She pulled in his grasp. Tossing to break free. The wife spoke sharply and her husband's hand fell away from her. He looked down, ashamed as the wife placed the syringe back in the box.

Natalia watched between them. "It's...it's hyperpolyglot?"

"Yes."

Taking a deep breath, she stared at it. The needle was long, like any other. Thicker around the base. Two distinctive marks were coloured on it's side, proving that at least the needle was authentically HPG standard, but it's contents could be anything.

Eyeing the alien, she bit her lip. Earthen wasn't a known language. Separated from the other human colonies, their slang had progressed differently. "Okay," she nodded.

The alien stepped forward, her fingers curling around the needle. Natalia looked away, turning to focus on the wood as she tensed.

The tensing only made it hurt more.

She gasped, the needle stinging as it pricked into her. There was a jolt as the contents were pushed in, before she felt the needle slide out. A balm was cooly placed over it, soothing the skin. Taking a breath, she looked over at her arm, feeling her head swim.

The woman grabbed at her shoulders as she began to panic again. She knew she should- she knew-

The alien placed her into a chair as the nanobots worked their way into their brain, weaving pathways of language. She didn't know how long it'd take. How long it should...

Did they really give it to her? Or was this poison eating her inside out?

A glass of water was placed into her grip and slowly she eased it to her face, taking a sniff for any immediate, acidic poisons. The water smelt...clean. Really clean. She took a sip, feeling the icy water slip down her throat. It was sweet in taste, pure. The sharp coolness focused her mind. Taking another sip, she began to think clearer, realise that this hospitality she was receiving wouldn't have been necessary if they did intend to eat her for dinner.

She'd been ridiculous before, consumed by fear. However, she still felt uneasy towards them.

Looking up, she grabbed her head, asking woozily, "Isn't that..." she pointed at the needle being disposed, "expensive?"

"Not at all. It's given freely to nurses such as myself, and it's always dispersed for higher birthrates. However, situations work differently on your world, I'm sure."

Natalia's eyes opened widely, her lips grinning in shock, "I can understand," she smiled happily.

"Most of our language you will be able to understand, however, there may be some words that are...too difficult to process for the nanorobotics."

"Too complex?"

"Sometimes," the woman nodded, shutting the medical kit and handing it to her son to place away. "Sometimes they have too many meanings, sometimes there is no word in your language to translate to." She smiled, sitting herself down on the chair beside the fire and turning herself to look towards Natalia. "My name is Maya, my husband's is Korran and my daughter Liea."

Daughter ...her eyes went to the girl who'd returned with paper and something similar to crayons.

"How old is she?" Natalia asked.

"Leia? She's barely a child in your human terms. Age is a loose translation. I think the word 'turtle' suffices."

"Turtle?" She blinked. "Do you mean a toddler?"

"Yes, a toddler. Forgive me."

Natalia flushed at her comment. It'd probably been rude to correct her. "I'm sorry, I'm not in my right mind," she apologised. Her stomach twisted nervously, hands fidgeting in her lap. Hearing them, understanding the meaning in the words made everything less frightening. The creatures still made her nervous, but the homey feeling of their cabin soothed most of her fears. "This is all...odd for me."

"What happen niela?"

"I don't know," she said honestly.

"What has happened, then?"

Solemnly, she looked down at her lap. "It's complicated. There are pieces missing."

"Start from the beginning then."

Nodding, she took a deep breath, feeling it rise through her gut into her chest before she began reciting her story. She started from going up to the space station to see the stars, before continuing to hiding from the monster and finishing with where she'd hid in the tree before Korran and Liea found her. Maya nodded, listening intently and only pausing to push her husband to make food before she continued to listen. When the story came to an end, Natalia sat quietly, staring down at her hands as Maya thought over the story quietly.

"This...is troubling," she admitted. "I had thought that your ship had crashed somewhere."

"Why?" she asked.

"A few days ago, there had been a sighting of an explosion not far from here. However, other ships were seen near the abandoned mines so I believe what you say is true to you, but I am sure there is more to this story."

Natalia hesitated, ready to mention Evangeline before pausing. The age difference was a problem on her own planet, she wasn't sure of the laws or culture of this one. Before she could finish arguing the idea, a wooden bowl of soup was placed in her hands. Surprised, Natalia stared down at it.

The food smelt different to what she was used to. Hungrily she breathed in the aroma, feeling the warm, salty air fill her mouth and lungs. The bowl was warm in her hands, the food a thick, delicious soup. But her mind raced over, afraid of unfamiliar bacteria.

"I'm familiar with human physiology," Maya smiled, reading her fear, "you may eat it niela." Slowly, Natalia lifted the spoon to lips and tasted it. It was thick, sludge-like with shredded meat through it, but it tasted similar to soups she'd had on Earth, though there was a sweetness she couldn't explain. Flavours she'd never had, filling her mouth like never before. Taking another taste, she found her stomach eagerly taking it in. Again and again she brought greedy spoonfuls to her mouth.

"You have to take it in slower," Korran's voice said softly, "you can only eat so much." Natalia paused the spoon midway to her mouth before she nodded slowly. Taking a breath, she was slower this time in eating, her arms shaking in self-control. She wanted to drink in the soup in heavy mouthfuls. She wanted to eat until her stomach expanded and she couldn't move.

But she restrained herself, only finishing the bowl offered instead of asking for more.

Korran immediately took the bowl away, replacing it with what looked to be tea. Natalia frowned at the steaming mug, wrinkling her nose at the unpleasant odour. Unlike the food, the tea smelt sour, sharp in her lungs.

"It'll help your body repair its self," Maya whispered, shutting her eyes as she sat back and rubbed at her stomach.

Natalia's eyes fell to the bloated stomach beneath the dress, before she rose her eyes to Maya's, "Are you-?"

"I am carrying a few eggs. In a few days I will lay them and Korran will fertilize them. Do not worry, I am just tired." She shut her eyes before turning to Leia. "What are you drawing sweetheart?" Silently, Natalia studied the young girl. They only had Leia. Did Maya only carry a few eggs at a time? Or did they only fertilise the eggs depending on how many children they want? Or...

"A drawing!" Leia shouted proudly.

"Hush dear, our guest is tired."

"Can she sleep in my room?"

"No dear."

"Why not?"

"Because she has unfamiliar bacteria on her. She has to bathe before you can touch her. Sleeping in the same room could make you sick." Leia frowned, crossing her arms unhappy.

"If I'm contaminated, I'll leave-"

"Nonsense niela. My child has not grown an immune system yet. My husband and myself are completely safe." As Natalia eyed the belly of Maya, the woman laughed, "my children are far more protected than myself. If I were to lay the eggs then I might pass you onto another family. However, no one's service would be as good as my own. My family is safe."

Natalia remained displeased with the situation. Hospitality aside, she did not want to cause any more damage than she already had.

"Niela, you spoke of your mother. Is there a way to contact her?" Natalia opened her mouth, ready to say yes, her phone, before she remembered that majority of Earth's phone were only connected to international calls, not galactic.

Some were only locally.

"I could try sending a letter, but majority of them get lost to Earth." Natalia felt her throat close eyes at the thought, "I-I have to get back home, but I don't know how to. I don't know how to leave and...and you're being so nice, but I-I want my mum ," she whispered. Her throat cracked over the words and has she took a mouthful of air, the last few days took their toll and the tears burst down her cheeks before she could control herself.

Apologetically she waved at Maya and covered her face, trying her best to stop the tears. With the back of her hand, Natalia wiped at her face, sniffling as she tried to take deep gulping breaths and swallow back the sobs. Stubbornly, her emotions had better control of her than she had of them, and continued to weaken her as she gave in to the aching mouthfuls of sobs.

"Oh dear. I had forgotten about that human reaction," Maya whispered.

"You...you don't cry?" she muttered, clenching her jaw to stop sobbing. Her teeth chattered, eyes blinded by the blur of tears.

"Due to emotions? No. I am afraid not. Very few species do. Though from what I have learnt, it is supposed to be better for your emotional wellbeing if you do cry."

Bitterly, Natalia laughed, "it's viewed more as a weakness," she sniffed. Wiping at the back of her hands as she realised there wasn't going to be any tissues. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be so..."

"Nonsense. You miss your mother. It is completely understanding." She paused and smiled softly, the white leather lips comforting in the soft expression. "You are, after all, so far away from home and I am sure you feel alone right now. You're only young. I'm sure most people in your position would feel the same."

They might , she thought quietly, but they probably wouldn't express it so outwardly. Natalia turned her head away to look outside the wood and glass window. Her hands clenched as she gazed over the small view. There were other buildings, cabins and areas that were built similar to the one she sat in now. All of them looked to also be made of wood and mud-bricks.

No one had been outside when she walked up to Maya's house, but she knew people had been looking out their window, behind their curtains, wondering what a strange person she was. She was more than a head shorter and much thinner than Maya and Korran. She was closer to Leia's size.

At the thought of the girl, her eyes ran to her. She was pulling on her mother's dress and had lifted a piece of paper into her hands. Only now did she noticed how green Leia's eyes were, the same as Maya's. They were big and frog like, but still childlike as they darted around, trying to see everything as her attention jumped.

"Leia drew you a picture," Maya told her, stretching her hand over the coffee table for Natalia to take. Leia beamed, eyes wide and hopeful as she watched her open up the folded drawing.

There was a picture of her, drawn in blue crayon with big red lips and red hair that went everywhere. Next to her was Leia, drawn in yellow crayon with big white lips and big green dots for eyes. Besides them were three strange markings. "What does this mean?" she asked. "I can't read them."

"Ah, hyperpolyglot can't translate writings. Apologies, I should have warned you," Maya spoke softly. "I don't believe there is a human word that describes what Leia wrote. I believe the closet translation would be 'new curious friend' it means she finds you fascinating. She likes you." Natalia glanced at Maya, who had quickly turned away with a strange expression. Shaking her head, Natalia looked at Leia, her heart almost hurting as she flicked her eyes down to the paper to see the marked word.

"Can you...pronounce it for me, please?"

"T'myal." The word began almost like a hiss before being breathed inside of Leia. Natalia blinked, smiling. It wasn't pretty, but the meaning carried, filling her unexpectedly with warmth.

"T'myal," she echoed quietly to herself. "It's beautiful, thank you." She took a moment to compose herself before looking up. In front of her, by her mother, Leia giggled and briefly, Natalia returned with a small laugh, smiling genuinely at the girl. Her cheeks moved stiffly, gritted with salt from tears, but Leia didn't smile any less at her for it.

"Come on, time for bed little one," Maya murmured, pushing her daughter kindly towards her bedroom. The girl complained until Maya stated that they all were going to bed soon.

At the idea of sleep, Natalia realised just how tired she was getting. "Do you-?"

"Here's a towel, niela. Go have a shower. I'll leave a change of Leia's clothes for you. I think they'll fit you." Natalia nodded, her chest constricting. "There'll be a bed made for you on the couch when you get out. Sleep as long as you need to, okay? We'll call the Union tomorrow and go from there."

"Th-thank you," she whispered, unable to convey her gratitude. She didn't know what to say or do. Their kindness was sweet and genuine like nothing she'd received before. Natalia felt that she had no way of paying them back. "I...I owe you a great debt," she murmured instead.

Motherly, Maya smiled softly at her. She reached out, brushing a scaled hand against Natalia's cheek. Unexpectedly, Natalia smiled at the touch. It wasn't smooth or rough, but it was gentle. Warm even. "Clean yourself up, niela. Perhaps one day you'll take someone in and share the kindness that we've shown you."

Natalia's eyes opened wider as she slowly nodded. When the hand slipped away and Maya turned back to walk to her linen closet, Natalia took the towel in hand and stepped into the bathroom as Maya pointed it out to her.

The bathroom had metal shower equipment, more sophisticated than her own back on Earth, but nothing in comparison to Evangeline's.

Placing the white towel on the rack, she unzipped the dress and pulled it over her head. The sound of something hard dropping made Natalia pause, peeking out from the dress's material, she saw the stick that she'd snapped from before. It was a dark wood, splintered from where she'd broken it, but still quite pretty.

Back on Earth, wood was delivered in the supplies for building furniture. When her Dad was alive, he'd taken her to see some of the sticks, branches and logs they used and even gave her one of the faulty ones to snap with. It didn't matter what she did with it, all the faulty ones and unused pieces were tossed into the fire to keep the flames bright and burning.

She liked the smell of the blaze, how beautiful it smelt, much like the wood-fire in Maya and Korran's living room. But it had been stronger, thicker in her lungs, and sometimes it hurt to breathe in too much. Many of the workers died from untreated ash inhalation, but they were replaced so quickly with new people that no one cared to fix the issue.

Natalia smiled. Golden light was filling the bathroom as the sun began to rise over the treetops in the distance. It was faint, distant, but beautiful.

As a child, the light would scare away shadows. Older and knowledgeable, it didn't matter that she knew better, the feeling of light still made her braver than the dark unknown.

Natalia turned back, catching sight of just how dirty she looked in the mirror. Smudges of mud and whatever else covered her skin, blackening her nails. Cuts decorated her body with aberrations showing where her skin had been rubbed raw. In a wild tangle, her long, red hair was mattered to look like a bird's nest.

She looked like one of the street kids instead of herself.

Averting her gaze, she stripped the last of her clothes off, stepping into the shower stall.

_That's a sight that I never hoped to see again_ , she thought quietly with one last glance to the mirror before closing the shower curtains behind her.

Only luke warm water ran out of the shower head, but it flourished down her body, washing all the dirt from her. She smiled, feeling the thrum of droplets hit her back and rush down her skin. At her feet, the water circled into the drain, having turned brown.

Natalia felt at bliss as she scrubbed her body with her hands, scrubbing the dirt from it until only pink flesh remained.

There was no soap or anything for her hair. But it was more than she had five minutes ago and at the least, she would no longer look like a savage from the mines, or wherever she came out.

Closing her eyes to the water, Natalia though back to Earth. Right now, she had the chance to experience everything she'd ever hoped or dreamed about. She was on a planet that was far better off than her own. It had running clean water, plantation, animals, life, and if Maya and Korran were anything to go on, friendly people. People who didn't lie and cheat the first chance they could for an extra coin in their pocket.

Shutting her eyes, she pressed her head against the bathroom tiles and breathed in a sharp breath. The world was clean here. There was no fake atmosphere over cities that recycled the air. There was plantation, a purity to the world, where even the medical standards were higher.

She could move here...stay here.

If she had the money.

No. She had a family back on Earth. A life. Moving from one country to another was difficult enough, but moving planets was near impossible. There was no way she could get that kind of money! Not even Evangeline had that power.

As soon as the Union was called, she'd be shipped back to Earth. She would have nothing but the memories of what she experienced and the HPG. Now she'd be able to understand the news without the damned subtitles. She'll be able to speak up and...

That would probably get her killed faster than whatever was in that cave.

Natalia opened her eyes, shutting off the water. Her fingers reached up to her hair, detangling the large knots until she gave up and grasped for the towel. She was too tired to finish that task. There was too much hair. It'd be easier if she just cut it off.

She wouldn't though.

Drying off, Natalia noticed that right where her towel had been, on the sink was a set of clothes, her tattered remains of the dress had been taken away, probably disposed of. She shouldn't care about the dress, but she wished it hadn't been so tattered. She would have liked to have kept it as a memorial or something.

Maybe. But maybe it was good to forget this, move on with her life. She didn't know. She just wanted to shut her eyes and wake up in her bed.

Quickly, Natalia used the toilet, finally having the chance, before she washed up and looked to the clothes again. They were prettier than she'd thought, and they looked to be made of similar materials that were used on Earth.

Fingering the materials, she smiled. The first was a cream cardigan. Beneath that was a blue, thin blouse. Her black bra remained there. Tattered and patched no more than expected. The last of the clothes was a rich brown set of pants, though she was sure that they would be short on the leg for herself.

The clothes must have been too big for Leia, because they somewhat fit Natalia well. The pants were baggy and had a messy, quick stitch where she assume Leia's tail usually went, but the length wasn't as bad as she'd imagined. The shirt though, was tight in the shoulders and pulled unflatteringly over her breasts, but the cardigan hid it well enough.

She looked better, civil instead of the terrifying girl she'd been before.

Stepping out the bathroom, she closed the door behind her and headed back to where the couch was. Already, she regretted putting her bra back on again. In the clothes she was wearing, it'd be too complicated to take off again.

"Rest easy niela," Korran spoke gently, walking past her. "Don't hesitate to call out if you need anything. We'll be awake for another few hours." Natalia nodded, clasping her hands to herself to hold back her emotions. For the moment, it worked better than her other tactics of biting her tongue or trying to look away.

"Thank you," she whispered, hoping he heard her. She didn't want to sound ungrateful for everything they were doing for her but the words barely carried the meaning across.

She looked down at the coffee table. The tea from before was where she had left it, now cold. Taking it, she greedily drank it down in hope that it may soothe her aches or drift her to sleep

The shower had cleaned her body and soul, and already she'd felt better after eating, but she was sore all over, emotionally and physically she could feel bruises forming, her self rubbed raw. For the first time since she could remember, she longed for her own bed, for the recycled air and the too-busy people who were as likely to rob you as they were to ignore you.

She liked the planet, loved the fresh air, the people she'd met and everything else, but it wasn't home. It was new, and terrifying and she'd rather give it all up and never think further on it then remain here isolated from her family.

No, she realized. That was a lie. She wanted home, she wanted her mother, but...

The thoughts felt too dark to continue thinking.

Crawling into the sheets, she thought instead of Koala's annoying habit of managing to jump up on her bed and sleep behind her legs. He never slept at her stomach like she want him to. He'd growl, even if he was asleep, when she tried to move him.

It was infuriating, but it'd also been comforting to be able to return home and have him curl up behind her legs.

Natalia grabbed one of the pillows, placing it behind her legs. There wasn't the gentle movement of him curling up closer, nor the heavy breath that he'd take before settling to sleep. But it was something.

Shutting her eyes, Natalia focused on the sounds of the crackling fire as she felt the tea slowly drag her to sleep. There was a murmured possibility that Korran and Maya had lulled her into a false sense of security and would eat her at any moment, but another part of her kept whispering that if they were like that, they would have done that already. They wouldn't have gone to so much trouble.

The debate when back and forth until she gave in, too tired to care as Evangeline's face pulled in her mind. Her eyes, wide open and terrified holding her own, hand reaching out to grasp at her as she was ripped away. Her thoughts moved, changing as she remembered her father reaching for her to lift her up, the smell of fire thick in her nose and throat. Smiling, he had hoisted her up.

Thoughts twisted and merged, playing the scene over and over until she was asleep, dreaming memories.

"You work here?" she asked wide-eyed, staring at the big fire through the window.

Her father laughed, lifting her up onto her shoulders, "I do. I make sure the machines keep working. When you're older you might start off here and slowly work your way up too."

"Is it fun?" she asked, pressing her face against the glass.

"It has its up and downs like any job. But it gives us food on the table."

"I like food! Can we have toasted samwitches for dinner again?" she asked, fumbling over her words.

Her father laughed, "I don't see why not. If you're very good."

"I am! I am, I am, I am," she giggled.

"Yes you are," he smiled, watching her eyes run over the factory. She pressed her nose flat against the glass, using her shirt to wipe away the fog. "Little nut?"

"Yes daddy?"

"I need you listen to me very closely, okay? Your mum and I want you to get an education so that you have the chance to make a lot of money. Both of us want you to follow your dreams okay? But family comes first. You promise me that."

"Promise you?" she said confused.

"That you only follow your dreams after your family is safe. Don't risk them. Dreams aren't worth it if you no one to share them with, and who better than your family?" He slipped her down and placed his daughter in front of him, kneeling down so they were at eye level. "It's very important that you promise me this."

"Why?" She frowned, not noticing that her father was becoming upset with her questions.

"Your mum's having a baby. You're going to be a big sister and I need to know that if anything happens, you'll take care of her."

"I will. I promise you. I'll keep family first." She grinned at her dad then, showing off her missing tooth before she threw her arms around her father's neck and kissed his cheek. "I love you daddy."

"I love you too, Nut."

"Can I...can I name the baby?"

Her eyes flew open, body going very still as noises moved around. She was in pitch darkness and for a second, Natalia thought she was still in the cave. The blanket slipped from her face then, and warm, golden light spilled over her eyes from the fire. She'd never been so thankful to see it before.

A small head popped up into sight with large green eyes and gold lips before disappearing again. Natalia sat up dazed, looking down to see Leia crawling away behind the couch.

Maya's head slipped around the kitchen doorway before glaring sharply at her daughter. "Leia, I told you not to wake her up!"

"Sorry," Leia's muffled voice could be heard as she stood on her feet and slowly walked over to her mother. Her tail's tip slid against the floor before flicking up higher as she turned back to look at Natalia. "Are you gonna eat food?" she asked. "Mum cooks the brujal foods."

"Brujal isn't a word, Leia," Her mother said softly, idly petting her daughter's head before stirring something in a pot. "Come sit, niela. My husband's gone to retrieve some medical supplies before we have a look at the infection you're carrying."

Natalia rose, moving to the kitchen. She sat down at the dining room table, feeling her back straighten against the wooden spine of the chair. Immediately Leia moved her plate next to Natalia's and climbed into the chair beside her.

"You don't have to...with the medical supplies. I'm sure I'll-"

"You won't. You're already paler than you were yesterday and by the time the moon's high in the sky, you'll be sick with fever. I should have done it yesterday, apologies." Natalia frowned at a loss of words.

Maya was apologising to her. For being sick.

"Honestly you have nothing to be sorry for. Already you've done more than enough," Natalia replied, "Please-"

"Enough. I would accept nothing less from anyone else in my town," she said, placing food onto the square, brown plate. "Be calm, niela. There is no reason for you to feel guilty."

Natalia nodded. Frowning at the affection name she was called. It was only then did she realise she'd never introduced herself. "My name's Natalia, by the way. I...I forgot to tell you yesterday."

"Natalia." the word was said oddly, foreign in Maya's mouth. Leia copied her mother's pronunciation, echoing the word over and over excitedly before she grinned up at Natalia, pleased as she said it once again. "It's a pretty name," Maya continued, "Does it mean anything?"

Natalia shrugged. "Probably. My mum had watched some movie when she was pregnant. She said she chose the name because the heroine...always came back home. She said that she looked at me and knew I would always find my way back home, no matter what." Natalia blinked at the almost long-forgotten story. Her mother had only told it to her once, when she was twelve.

"Naming is a powerful thing," Maya said to her. "Parents put meaning behind the words they give to their child, intentionally or not, it leave its mark on a child. Though naming anything leaves its mark." Maya placed food onto three other plates before sitting down. "Eat up niela, your food will become cold and hard otherwise."

Natalia looked down at the plate in front of her. The main dish was green and leaf-like, but as she watched, it the soft leaf-like slowly began hardening into a thin, crisp shell. Beside it were nuts and something resembling an oily blue tomato. Grabbing the two-pronged fork, she stuck it in the green leaf and took a bite. Instantly it filled her mouth with an intense sour, crunch. The texture was softer in places, and chewy in others as she slowly tasted it, blinking back the water in her eyes.

She hadn't expected such an intense reaction, but it was certainly delicious. Eagerly she ate it , swallowing it hard before biting down on one of the nuts.

She regretted the nuts instantly. They were bitter as it crumbled in her mouth. Grasping at the water, she gulped down a large mouthful to wash out the taste as she resisted making a horrified expression.

"It's an acquired taste. Leia doesn't like them either," Maya laughed at her. "But they're to help you heal quicker. I suggest that you try them with the liqrie, they'll taste sweeter." Natalia looked at the oily blue tomato with hesitation, licking her lips, still tasting the bitter nuts, she poked one of the smaller ones with the fork, watching it bleed. It was no bigger than her fingernail. Scooping it up with some of the egg coloured nuts, she stuck it in her mouth and bit down.

The tomato bloated and burst as the nuts crumbled finely. Her mouth filled was filled with the bitter taste before the syrup sweetness of the liqrie mixed, coating it until an odd balance was found between them. The taste was far more pleasant, and without further hesitation, she finished her breakfast.

Leia though, had forgone the nuts and had instead chosen to eat the leafy plant and the liqrie. The nuts, she pushed around her plate until her mother took them one off with her fingers, and popped it into her own mouth. "You need to try to like them," Maya sighed at her daughter, "they'll help your immune system to grow. If you don't, then you can't spend much more time with Natalia," she warned.

Leia's mouth dropped opened in horror before the young girl quickly stuffed the rest of the nuts in her mouth and chewed them, her expression quickly turning into violent disgust before she grabbed for the orange coloured drink in front of her and washed out her mouth, swallowing hard on the juice.

Maya laughed. "I would have given you more liqrie if you'd asked nicely."

Leia frowned, sticking out a pink tongue, now coloured with shavings of egg from the nuts. Maya rose from leaning over the table, and poured more of the juice into her daughter's glass before she frowned at Natalia.

"I'm afraid I don't think you can have this. It's made from a flower's pollen. Usually the plant's stem is used as a poison for some races."

"Does it affect humans?" she asked.

Maya smiled, "I'm not sure. Human physiology is different and varied. I'd rather not risk making you any sicker at this point."

Natalia smiled shyly. "I understand. Thank you though. For...everything. I would still be in the forest if it weren't for you." She took a breath, then swallowed back the words.

"Yes, niala?"

"It's nothing."

"I do not like liars in my home," Maya said. The words were said teasingly, but they sat uncomfortably in Natalia stomach.

Was she being a liar? "It's just...as much as I appreciate your hospitality, I feel out of place here. Invading your home, eating your food..." She smiled up at them stiffly, tucking a strand of red behind her ear. "I-I just mean that...I can leave. I can go back to the forest if you want. I can-"

"You must not leave," Maya said sharply, interrupting her. Natalia frowned, confused at her sudden outburst. Even Leia looked at her mother curiously. Eyeing her daughter, Maya placed a hesitant smile on her lips. "Leia, go get ready for school. Natalia might even walk there with you if your father comes home in time."

Too excited to notice her mother's worry, Leia rushed off. Natalia however turned to look at Maya with a curious expression. "What do you mean?"

"The forest," she replied quickly. "You mustn't go back."

"What's wrong with the forest?" Natalia looked at her confused. She'd crawled through that tunnel, she knew that she couldn't go back to the cave. Maybe Maya meant there were other beasts like that, in the forest?

"We are not the only species on this land, as you know."

"As in...like intelligent species?"

"Yes. There's another. One who..." she was hesitant for a moment, pausing as her big, unblinking eyes looked into Natalia's.

"What is it?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"

"You were...you were left in the caves as an offering for the beast," Maya murmured, conflicted to admit that fact.

"An offering?" Natalia's felt her stomach drop at the word. "By-"

"Not by us. By another clan. You may not be able to see it, but you're still marked...the effects are potent to our nose. If the clan sees you, they'll throw you back in with that beast."

"Why?" Natalia asked. Her body shuddered. Her voice had come out as a desperate whine, hight pitched and almost like a shriek. She hate how it sounded similar to the beast.

Maya slowly adjusted herself in the chair, looking down at the plate of food ready for her husband. "The clan is not Samarian like us. They're Verokin...they took you from the space station. They use the land for mining. The offering to the beast allows them to mine where they like underground, but only if it's a correct number is marked."

"I don't...I don't understand."

"Usually the Verokins round up people from other planets and divide the groups into working slaves, drug mules..." she shut her eyes in disgust, "some are sex slaves. It's alien trafficking. Illegal of course, but-"

"Places like Earth don't notice large groups of people disappearing because large groups of people die and disappear everyday," Natalia said. "No one but my mum will even notice I'm gone. I'll be replaced at work as soon as I miss the first day and no one will even care." She nodded, digging her nails tightly into her hands. "So I'm marked. What does that mean."

"It means that until the next cycle, they can't mine until you have been given to the beast. They have a name for it, it's like Belkah or something." Natalia shook her head, looking away. "The mark will fade by the next cycle."

"What's this mark that you're talking?" Natalia snapped. "I scrubbed myself clean, I saw myself in the mirror. Is it the scars, the-"

"It's a pclotherian mark...ah...the word psychic I think is close? It's a form of energy. Samarians, Verokins...a few other races feed off different things like emotions or...the brainwaves from dreams." Natalia nodded numbly, wanting her to continue. When she didn't, she turned to face Maya. The woman wasn't looking at her, but at the table and the blue and white cloth that the plates were sitting on.

"What does it mean?" Natalia asked, wishing her voice was schooled of emotions.

"It's seven hundred and fifty million credits worth of known goods un-mined. That's only if they work at half power like they did last year and not including if they went any deeper into the grounds. The Union...they don't know about it."

"What about you...how do you know about it?" Maya looked at her in the eyes, and everything went quiet. A roar poured through Natalia's ears as she felt her stomach threaten to empty its self. Things clicked in place as the conversation ran over her mind. Bits and pieces popping out until...how does she know?

"Y-you?" Natalia asked with wide eyes. "You know a lot. You...you're told this?"

"Yes."

"And you don't care? You're not stopping it?"

"It's not that simple-"

"You would overlook innocent people getting thrown into the mines. Overlook...me?"

Maya's face twisted angrily before she deflated into the chair. "You have to understand. I have a family, and the Verokins would have destroyed our home world entirely for the materials they found. This way...we have a peace. And the greater good outweighs-"

"The bad?" Natalia finished. "Does it really? You would allow me to get dragged back, to die? Is that why you're keeping me here. You're just fattening me up to get ready to return." Maya's face fell and suddenly Natalia jumped up and flew backwards. "Is that where your husband has gone. To tell them I'm here?"

"We...we thought if we were kind to you, then the gods will forgive us, that you might-"

"Forgive you?" she cried out. "What if it was your daughter, your children that were required. Would you fight back then?" Natalia cried. Maya looked away, hands placed into her lab.

"It's for the greater good."

"I'm only eighteen," she said softly. "I haven't lived yet. I have't gotten married or...or had my own kids. I have my whole life ahead of me. My mother is waiting at home for me. She needs me to come back or she'll die. Don't you understand?" Words were pouring out of her mouth before she could stop them.

Threateningly, Maya rose from the chair. "This is for my daughter," she all but hissed, "this is to keep my family safe and secure. My home world. Over one billion of us live on this planet and if we keep our mouths shut then we get to stay here. We'll face genocide if we refuse. I told you why you can't leave so you understood that there's no running, everyone can see that mark that spills over your back, and up your neck. You can't leave but if you're good, they'll knock you out and you won't feel a thing."

Natalia shook her head furiously pulling back entirely until she was pressed against the wall. "I trusted you and you preyed on that. You said you were going to call the Union. That I could get home."

"You could still contact home. There could be a trade. They'll pay your mother to live happily-"

"She'll be alone!" Natalia screamed. "I won't- I can't put her through that again."

I promised.

"Mummy?" Leia whispered, poking her head around the corner, hugging what looked like a stick doll to her chest. "Why are you shouting. Natalia's my t'myal!" Maya rose and turned to look at Leia, her hands out stretched in comfort.

Natalia's whole universe was spinning, and as she watched Maya rush to her daughter, a voice whispered in her the back of her mind.  _Run._

Pushing off the wall, she ran through the door on the other side of the kitchen into the backyard. And then she kept running. She didn't look back, too afraid to see if Maya followed.

She sprinted for the wooden fence, scrambling over and jumping it without even hesitating as the wood scratched at her legs and a stray nail cut over her ankle.

She was barefoot and running. But she was used to being barefoot on Earth. Her feet had worked up a hard callous to the ground and the grass was soft on her toes. Her steps bounced, helping her to run faster than she thought she could.

Less gravity , something whispered in her thoughts as she ducked around stunted buildings, running for the trees. Damnit. People would be after her in minutes. Seconds maybe. They would have the knowledge of the geography on their side and she had...she had nothing.

She was a fucking clerk for gods sake. She was in a relationship with a married woman. What did that say about her? She worked two jobs that either involved running from one place to another to move files and paperwork, or answering phone calls and doing invoices. This was...this was way out of her league. Fuck.

Natalia's lungs were already burning and she'd barely ran five hundred meters. Panic wasn't helping her to breathe either. She needed a plan. Needed cover.

What she needed was a freaking ship to come out of nowhere and save her ass! But her chances of that were impossible, and there was no point in considering hijacking a ship. Most of them required a pilot, the others...she didn't know. She barely studied them at school.

Hell, to be honest she'd get in and wouldn't know how to shut the doors.

_Think_ _,_  she told herself, running for a tree and climbing it faster than she had time to consider what to do. Her limbs moved, reaching out and grabbing at the next branch before hoisting her up. She didn't think. Just did. The vantage point helped. Already she could see people, Samarians, coming for her in the far distance of the centre village. She'd run from the fringe. They were at least a minute or two behind and they weren't rushing. They knew it was only a matter of time.

Her heart seemed to stop beating as she spotted two very large, at least the same height as a Samarian but twice as wide, Verokins. Korran must have already called them.

She choked, holding back the sob. Taking a deep breath, she clenched her hands into fists. There wasn't time to panic. She had to move. Not moving got her captured and killed.

She shut her eyes briefly, drawing in another deep breath, then another to calm her self. Her head cleared as she opened her eyes, scanning the area. She was somewhat high in a close cluster of trees, she could...climb from tree to tree? The movement required stealth, she didn't have the grace and any wrong step would cause a branch to crack and people to look up.

No. She needed to keep moving. The trees became thicker further on if she moved diagonally in an eastward -- or what she assumed was east -- direction.

Jumping down, she landed in a painful crouch before springing up and running. A weapon would help, she thought quietly then dismissed the idea entirely. There were too many aliens and she'd barely shot a gun. Her aim without practice would require dumb luck while she was running. No. She needed something else.

Natalia pushed through a throng of tress, grabbing at them blindly before she tripped almost falling over a compact dirt ledge. Hanging onto a thick branch, she looked over the sharp decline, down below were empty machines sat. There was a mouth of an entrance to somewhere being dug. Around it there were mining apparatuses and a small...a small vehicle!

Hope filled her chest as she looked down at it.

Quickly, she glanced behind herself to see if anyone was close. A shot rang out through the air and without further hesitation she pushed herself from the tree and slid down the sharply inclined, ledge.

On her side, her exposed skin burned with friction as she slid down the ledge. Grunting in pain, she ignored the raw skin, blinking tears back. This wasn't the time to be weak. She couldn't pause to cry. Pausing to cry would get her killed.

Forcefully, Natalia gasped as much air in before she pushed herself back up and ran again towards one of the cars.

Throwing her leg over, she looked down at the handles. It was a press start, one of the standard solar vehicles. It looked like one of the quads she'd driven back on Earth, and she had enough experience to have a basic idea in how to drive this one.

Her finger clicked it on the start button sharply before turning the handbrake off. With a last look back, she twisted the throttle before directing the handle bars to lead the bike up the alien-made ramp. This was it. She was going to get out, going to run. And...and...

She'd have to follow the dirt road until the trees became thinner, but there was no way she was giving up a solar car. Not if it gave her a good long head start. And the bonus of it not being fuel, was that there were very slim chances that it would run out, given that it looked to be one of the good models.

Wind rushed at her face, exhilarating her until it shook down her back and ricocheted into her chest before she let out a barking laugh. She could make it. She could survive.

There were other things to come, many others. Problems, issues she was going to face. How she was going to get of the damned planet being the next and foremost. But she'd deal with all of that later.

Right now, she was driving along a dirt road. Soon she'd go off road and look for somewhere to hide and then she'd work it out from there.

Fuck them, she decided. She wasn't going to give up. Not after making it this far.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a bit with Natalia and Maya that I'm not too happy about. I'm not sure if the scene moves fast enough without being TOO fast. But it's something I spent hours on and this is way better than how it was originally.


	4. Sickness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not all things that lurked the forest wanted her captured alive. Some were beastly and would prefer a quick meal.

4.

The cave was dark, damp and cold, but this one was different to the first. Safer. It didn’t go underground like the other had, nor did it have any scary creatures lurking around. She checked. It just went from one side of the mountain to the other in a somewhat straight design. It was obviously alien made, but far enough away from the bike that Natalia was sure she was safe. She’d taken precautions to lead them away from her the best she could.

She just needed to gain her bearings.

It was well past sunrise and she knew many of the Samarians would have returned home to replenish, gain their bearings and possibly plan out her most likely path. She had no idea about the Verokins and their sleeping patterns, but she knew majority of the Samarians had families to care for.

Tomorrow, she’d head on foot and continue forward.

She’d been lucky getting the bike. There wasn’t any food or water, but there’d been an empty pack that she had adjusted to her own much smaller build, and a flare gun. If she saw any sign of the Union’s ships, she’d fire it. It could also be a potential weapon if she got into something too hairy. Even if it only had one shot.

It was enough.

Taking a sigh, she unbutton and stripped off the cardigan slowly. She’d damaged her arms, she could feel the material sticking to something on the right her back. Threads of cotton clinging and ripping in the sticky mess. Cleaning her fingers the best she could on her hands, she reached around and touched the spot, hissing as she pulled away.

She must have scrapped the skin off clean when she’d slid down the ledge. Even through the cardigan, the friction had left its mark on her.

Natalia reclined back, shutting her eyes and listening. She knew that if she became used to the sounds, listening to them, any sudden quietness of the animals and insects would warn her that someone was coming.

That was something she’d picked up in the movies. It was laughable. Possibly a lie, but it was something, and she clung to hope desperately at the moment.

Her mother had told her that she should only stick to books, and perhaps she’d would have learnt the same from books, but it was the movie that stuck in her mind. A group of survivors in tatted clothes, working their way through a jungle. Two of them arguing before the only female turned around and hushed them. _“Do you hear that?”_ she had asked them. _“No,”_ they replied confused. _“Exactly. The birds have gone quiet. Something’s happening_.” Then a bomb had fallen from the sky.

Or something. Natalia wasn’t sure, it’d been years since she’d seen the movie, but she remembered Caroline holding her hand, the smell of popcorn in the room as they wore their vid-visors. It was like being right in the movie. You could turn your head left or right and all you’d see was the landscape.

It was her birthday present, but Caroline got in free because was young. It was the best present, and the last she’d gotten from her parents. After that...everything changed. Her father and Caroline died, money got tight and she...didn’t even try her best. She gave up caring, gave up trying to be anything. Her mother and herself downsized their house and that was that.

They used to get by pretty well before everything happened. After that, her mum’s drinking problem became a _problem_.

But she’d take the swearing and insults over anything. Her mum never hit her, woke up in her own vomit or anything like that. She just...embarrassed her self or Natalia more often than anything else.

Natalia’s thoughts stopped suddenly, halfway to sleep, when a scuttling sound was heard. Peeking her eyes open, her hand resting on the flare gun, she readied herself for anything. Instead she came to view with a large feather in her face. She froze as the bird looked at her before it hopped back.

It was a long, thin bird with a neck as tall as it’s body. Though it was dark in colour with a green shimmer to it’s feathers, its beak was a deep brilliant blue. She watched as it seemed to ruffle it’s lower feathers with the beak before looking back up at her.

“Ah...hello?”

“Hello. Hello. Ahhhck,” it replied in an attempt at a mimic of her voice. It was lower, though, and more gravelly than her own. It was only when it ducked it’s head and snapped at some bugs on the ground that Natalia noticed a single red feather in it’s short tail. It was a pretty bird, in comparison to the one that Leia had swung over her back the night before.

Or…was it two nights ago? She was losing her sense of time. Things had been happening too quickly for her to comprehend and instead she was trying to deal with it all the best she could. Thinking of how many days it’d been just gave her a headache.

“Do you speak...or mimic?” she asked, just too make sure.

“Or speak. You do mimic?” Natalia frowned at the bird before shrugging her shoulders. It didn’t bother her that much if she didn’t speak to it. The bird would just peck at the ground and she’d be clear a few bugs. Besides, if she watched it close enough, she might be able to find some food that she could eat.

She’d probably avoid eating for as long as possible, though. The last thing she needed was to poison herself moments before she could be rescued. Maya had said that they couldn’t digest all of the same food -- but then, Maya had been lying to her about the Verokins. everything she’d said was all a lie in Natalia’s head.

For all she knew, she’d been poisoned. Perhaps that’s why she peed so much recently. That or she was actually hydrated for once.

Natalia sighed, pulling her legs tighter to her body. Her chest ached at the betrayal. She’d honestly thought that such kindness had been genuine, that she’d gotten lucky and within a few days she’d be back home with something grande to talk about.

A part of her she still wanted to believe that Korran and Maya had honestly meant to be kind.

She understood why they did it. She’d heard both her parents often say they’d do anything to protect her and Caroline. But...she was so hurt, so bitter towards them that she didn’t care for reason. She hadn’t done anything to them. She hadn’t done anything at all. All she’d wanted was to see the stars.

She’d been so stupid.

She hardly knew them, their race or culture. She shouldn’t have trusted them. She should have ran when she had the chance, hidden further in the woods and probably gotten herself killed by some wild beast in the process. At least then she would be dead in a ditch. Not-

No. She _would_ survive this. She had to.

Natalia rolled onto her side, curling up against the cold wind that whipped through the mouth of the cave. She was tucked out of sight in the shadows behind a bump. They were likely to pass by and not notice her. If they did however, she was hidden far enough that she could make a run for it again before they could catch her.

Rain began outside. It was quiet at first, soft enough that she didn’t hear it. It wasn’t until it began pouring that she smiled. Big thick droplets pouring down like a shower or a hose. Maybe it would wash away her trail. Maybe she was safer than before.

Natalia fell asleep to the sound of the thunderstorm outside, lulled by the noise. It was beautiful. The large crackles of static electricity crackling through skies before ripping down to earth. She wanted to run out and feel it on her skin, but it wasn’t worth dying for. The sound was enough. It was loud, repetitive and noisy but it was still beautiful.

She’d slept so much in the past few days, but it wasn’t enough. She kept becoming tired, falling asleep when she could get the chance. Perhaps that was the safe option. If she wasn’t tired, then she’d function better awake, make less mistakes.

She wished desperately that there’d been another survivor. They would have taken shifts. It would haven been half the sleep, probably, but it would have also been safer. Unless one of them had fallen asleep at the wrong time.

Her thoughts lulled over possibilities, wishing for company and thanking the isolation at the same time.

“Hello.”

Natalia’s eyes flew open, terrified until she saw that the bird was in her face again. “Hello. Hello. Talk. Hello.”

Slowly, she rubbed at her eyes, yawning as she woke up. Her body stretched, ached, before relaxing again. Looking down at her hands, she noticed tiny little splinters under the skin. She’d didn’t have the utensils to get them out, but she knew that if she soaked her hands long enough, they may come out on their own.

“Hello. Hellllooooo. _Ahhh_.” Natalia grabbed the flare gun, making sure the safety was on before she stuck it into the band of her pants. Reaching out, she then grabbed the empty backpack and slung it over back.

“You can either follow me or stay here,” she whispered to the bird. “I don’t care either way.” The bird cocked it’s head at her before it sat down. “That works too,” she muttered before crouching down and stepped closer to the mouth of the cave. It was still gently raining outside, but she could hear the light sounds of the birds in the tree.

Treading closer, she scanned the area before stepping out. Her body was tense, just waiting for a pulse rifle to shoot her in the chest, killing her. Nothing happened. She quietly ran for the trees, careful to avoid most of the sticks and dry leaves on the ground.

Already her ears were learning to pick up on sounds. But it was amateurish. Everything she was doing was amateurish and some couldn’t even be considered that. _It’s strange_ , she thought bitterly to herself, _it finally took a life or death to make me stop being so lazy._ Hysterical laughter bubbled in her chest, but she didn’t allow the sounds to escape.

A part of her still wanted to turn herself in and give up. She was tired. She didn’t want to do this. But when she thought of her mum, of Koala, what she promised her dad and how they’d never forgive her for just giving up, she knew she had to push on. Otherwise, when she made it to the afterlife they’d probably be so ashamed of her that she’d be thrown into purgatory.

In the end it was probably pride and human stubbornness that kept her fighting. She had nothing else left.

Even Evangeline’s smile didn’t seem worth the fight. The woman was either dead or had replaced her. If she _did_ love her though, maybe she’d be back on Earth, with her husband, fighting for her. Or maybe drinking her memories away.

It didn’t matter.

Natalia wanted to see Evangeline one last time. She loved her enough, at least, to desire a last smile, a last kiss and ask if anything they had was real. If it was, couldn’t they fight for it? Surely money didn’t mean that much to Evangeline. It couldn’t. Their lives meant more, didn’t they?

She knew that. She believed it, but Evangeline didn’t, she realised. Eve wasn’t fighting for her life, running to survive. She could be back home, behind a desk and doing half of her husband’s work, and half of her own. She could be out shopping for a new dress, for a new party, with a new play toy for all she knew.

Shaking her head, Natalia thought back on that smile. On the dark hair and red lips. Words murmured in the night as they laid wrapped in sheets. Evangeline would choose money. It was everything she worked for. There was no way she’d throw it all away for some simple girl and a good fuck.

Tree grew thick in the walk as she buried herself in the forest. For a while, she moved on, her thoughts rolling over happy memories of her and Evangeline, of how they first met, or danced or spoke, as trees grew tall and her body wrapped tight, moving fast to keep warm against the chill air and cold rain.

Droplets slipped through thinner parts and managed to slip through leaves and branches, and _then_ down her shirt spine. The first time, she almost yelped at the iciness. The next time it happened, she managed a single mumbled curse word before stalking through a thicket of trees into a small clearing.

Her breath stopped just as the rain seemed to. The air was thick, humid and for a moment, she thought she was seeing things. She _had_ to be, she decided. Her luck couldn’t be that bad.

In front of her was a ginormous furred beast. Five time her width, and about her height crouched down behind a bush. It was sitting back on what she hoped was only four legs. Two small ears upon its head flicked before slowly sliding back. Natalia’s eyes focused on sniffing shiny black nose that match equally shiny eyes. The more she stared back, the more the shiny black eyes seemed to get small and smaller. Threateningly, one paw went through a bush, shredding it like butter, with its large, black claws.

Natalia was paralyzed to the ground.

Her head was suddenly filled with useless curse words and the sudden wish that the damned bird hadn’t woken her up. The _bear_ \-- at least it somewhat resembled a bear from the documentaries she’d watched in school -- was growling a very low, threatening growl.

Natalia’s fingers inched for the flare gun at her side before she eyed the tree beside her and was forced to make a snap decision.

It would be a short run. She had a choice. Shoot, and possibly miss, or run and possibly get captured.

The bear took another step and Natalia bolted, leaping sideways and already climbing the tree. The beast was only shortly behind before she noticed what was happening. Scrambling desperately, she was up in the tree, climbing faster than she ever had before. Even faster than she had run from Maya’s.

Terrified and not thinking, she made the mistake to look back down and notice the bear-like creature was slightly longer than a bear with a large body and an extra set of arms that helped it to climb the tree faster.

_Of course it climbed_ . Natalia realised suddenly. The thing dwelled in a _forest_. The creature was probably top of the food chain if it’s razor sharp claws and fanged teeth meant anything. Groping in distress, she continued to climb, feeling the the flare gun press against tightly.

There was no option. She was pretty much screwed either way. At least this gave her a chance.

Natalia fumbled as she climbed backwards on the branch, listening to it crack under her weight as she grabbed at the gun. Her hands were shaking so bad that she almost allowed the bear to swipe it out of her hands if she hadn’t slid back at just right moment.

She squeezed the trigger and...nothing happened. Panic filled her before her eyes went to the safety. The bear was coming closer. It’s jaw seemed to unhinge at it begun roaring at her. Another swipe at her, the air slicing her face. Her body leant backwards and a claw hit her stomach, swiping a large, but non-fatal gash through the material of her clothes.

Squeezing the trigger, she aimed the gun at the open jaw that was scarily close. Putrid breath poured over her and then suddenly she was falling.

The branch had broke at the same time as she pulled the trigger, making a bad shot lucky. The pulse-flare went into the bear and exploded. Heat expanded, singing her body and skin as she fell and crash landed hard on her back.

Everything happened so fast that Natalia barely process what happened as she laid gaping for a breath, winded looking up at a stained red tree. Something had broken underneath her, she’d heard a crack.

But it was all she could to open and shut her mouth trying to get a breath. Relief filled her when her lungs inflated with oxygen. Only then did she slide painfully off the branch and ease herself down onto the barely half foot away ground. Her mind fluttered at the near-death experience before slowly tried to think over the proper way to check for damage.

She was conscious. Her head hurt but it probably wasn’t a concussion. A nasty bump at most. But...could she move her toes? She couldn’t at first and fear filled her before she noticed that her bare feet were covered with something. Painfully sitting up she looked down at her feet.

The beasts guts were red and covering her feet. She pulled her feet away instantly and covered her mouth. It wouldn’t do her good to vomit now, she knew. She needed everything in her body to _remain_ in her body for the moment. Slowly she shut her eyes, swallowed back and took a few deep breaths. She needed canvas the situation. She could do that.

She took another breath, forcing her mind to not see the mess as a living thing, but as the enemy.

Chunks of meat covered the area. _Probably edible_ , she figured. Practically she pushed away the disgust and grabbed at some of the smaller amounts of meat before packed it in her bag. She would decide later if she could _really_ stomach the idea of cooking and eating the beast. For now she had to keep moving on. Someone near the area would probably have heard the noise and was probably calling it in or coming to check it out themselves. It was only a matter of time before they knew she’d been there.

Unless of course, the evidence was eaten by small animals and insects. But for something so large and widely...dispersed, it was sure to take longer than a few hours. Days even weeks maybe.

Her stomach rolled uncomfortably again as she avoided stepping on intestines and what looked to be half of an eyeball. It usually wasn’t in her to take trophies, but before she could understand what she was doing, she’d tucked a tooth away with some of the meat. A large part of her was revolted with her self, another part of her wanted something that could be studied later, just so she could find out exactly what type of beast it was.

_Some story_ , she thought.

Her mind already was flicking around the area, thinking of ways to describe what had happened. It was really the only way she could process her situation. It’d been that way for a few years now. When ever things got too hard to handle, she ended up thinking about how to describe the drapes in the room, or the shape of someones eyes.

It was probably why she wasn’t curled up in a ball, sobbing uncontrollably like she had been in the first cave.

Now it was different. Now she had her beast in a backpack. She could eat it if she wanted to, all she needed was...fire…

“ _Oh_ ,” she said as an idea struck her hard enough to make her pause. _If I...yes, I just need...oil._ Already in her mind grew a bright, flaming picture. If she were to find some oil from somewhere, by luck she hoped there was a cabin or a farm on the fringe of the forest, she could potentially use that as a distraction. All she needed was a few things and some place burning that could be used to distract people.

Herself wasn’t a good enough reason. She needed a phone. No, what she needed to get a was intergalactic telephonic device to call the Union and get them to come here. Her luck countlessly proved it was running short and them arriving any time soon on their own was unlikely. No, she needed to get them to come here.

But _how_? They wouldn’t come just because some ‘claimed’ to be a ‘tribute’ to a ‘gigantic beast that lived under ground and ate people’. But they might come for a massive trafficking ring. Especially one that she could provide a name and place for them to find evidence in.

Briefly, her knees sagged at how overwhelming the task began to feel already. “One step at a time,” she reminded herself, keeping her mind looking a head and not thinking back, “One step at a time.” If she thought back on the beast, on Korran and Maya and baby Leia, if she went so far back to remember the cave, she’d fall down.

She’d give in. And she couldn’t, she _wouldn’t_. So she had to look at the trees, at the dirt, the path ahead. She had to listen to the quiet as animals slowly gained confidence to start singing again, at the gentle hum of fast wings from insects. She had to keep her mind busy.

Most of all, she had to focus on finding fuel of some sort. Most cars ran on solar now, but a lot of old farming equipment, heavy machinery and older transport models didn’t. Heavy machinery especially require too much power and ended up working more efficiently with fuel rather than solar.

She remembered that the ditch she’d stolen the bike from had heavy machinery meant to dig the beginnings of a mine. But without a sense of direction, she’d end up getting further lost in the forest instead of finding anything. At best, she’d run in circles.

It seemed the better option to continue forward and rely on stumbling across something. Even if it wasn’t the safer option. People were following her tracks and she’d left a pretty big red painted sign behind her stating where she was going. She needed to move, and fast.

The bag rested better on her shoulder easier with something heavy in it, though the weight was growing worse with each step.

It was good to be able to move without the flare gun pinching at her skin, it’d begun to itch with sweat before, but now she wished she had another weapon. If she came across another one of those beasts there was no chance of her surviving it. Not in her state. Especially now.

Swallowing, she wiped at her forehead. Was- no. She didn’t have time to wonder about a fever.

She was already moving slower that before. She could feel the adrenaline rush leaving her system. Her body was well past its limits from the last few days and desperately required more than a few days of bed rest in a hospital. Sheer will and determination pushed her forward. She wouldn’t be climbing any mountains of cliffs anytime soon. Climbing a tree, too, would be hard enough now. Some of the more difficult ones with higher branches, would be impossible.

The last fall had heavily bruised her back and seemed to make the rest of her symptoms become worse. She was lucky she hadn’t paralysed herself. Otherwise she would have laid in the dirt for days, slowly died of dehydration or starvation if something didn’t find her first. She’d have been a lone, cold and in pain. Hoping for a quick death.

Stumbling, Natalia found her body aching desperately, her limbs sore, her muscles stiff and her bones bruised and battered everywhere. She need to recuperate. Needed medicine. Maya hadn’t been lying about infection. She could smell the sour stench rolling from infected wounds. How had she missed it before?

Pausing she lifted her shirt where the grazed skin was on her side. The shirt stuck, ripping new skin painfully. Whimpering, she blinked down at it and almost sobbed. What happened when that wound festered?

She was sweating in the cold, shivering the next moment. She was so tired.

It had always been her belief that fevers always made you feel cold, but everything felt hot and dizzy. Her lungs were constricting and nausea was setting in her stomach, but she could make it another kilometre at least. She had to. It’d be at half her previous pace...but...she needed to try. She needed to find somewhere.

She’d never been this sick before. Not that she could remember.

Already, her vision was beginning to blur. Trees moved differently as if she was walking along a boat instead of the firm surface.

Narrowing her eyes, she ignoring the itch on her forehead and forcefully bit down on her tongue. Sharp pain thrummed through her, keeping her steady as she scanned around her. She could do this.

Stumbling, she grasped at a tree to hold herself steady. Her eyes squeezed shut and she panted out of breath. This was ridiculous. She was fine before. She’d been fine and then the bear-

The bear had…

The bear had swiped her.

She looked down, peaking at the show. Blood oozed, but there wasn’t a lot. It was just three shallow jagged slices on her belly. It was nothing. She took a breath, whimpering. Had it been poisonous? That would be her luck. A poisonous claw on top of everything else. “Fuck my life,” she murmured, pressing a hand to the wound.

Her mind wanted her to go somewhere. Wanted to sleep until she was dead, probably. Forcefully, she opened her eyes again and looked where she was headed.

There was nothing. Nothing but trees that looked the same.

She kept moving, kept pushing herself, feeling her lungs constrict as she kept walking. She focused on each step, focused on getting one foot forward.

But her foot caught on a root, her legs tangling as she stumbled and fell onto the ground. Pushing up onto her knees, she looked up. It was getting harder to hear. Something, could easily sneak up on her. She had to keep low, she reasoned. She was too dizzy to walk, to dizzy to rise. She’d just fall down again.

Keep moving. She _had_ to keep moving.

The bag, weighted with meat, slid on her back, making one side of her body heavier as she crawled.

Her movement was noisy. Without meaning to, she seemed to walk across every single leaf and branch. Even though it’d rained, making the material more malleable, the noise rustled and carried loudly in the forest. If anything was nearby, it’d hear her.

She looked up, panting on shaking arms.

There was a...a tree not far ahead. It was big and hollow. At the least, she realised, she could sleep and maybe…

She crawled forward and something hit her hand. Natalia’s brow pinched as she looked down and tentatively touched the object. Curiously, she pulled at the container, lifting it up.

It was a secret stash. Probably for someone who wandered often in the woods. She must be nearby a landmark. It’d do good to leave before someone came back.

She almost turned away, ready to leave when she noticed that the box was _old_. It was thickly covered in dirt and bramble, rusted around the edges. Maybe it’d been a while since they’d been here. Maybe they forgot. Or maybe it was lying around as a trap for someone like her to come along. If so, it was a good trap.

Natalia laughed to herself, if there was something useful in it, then she’d be an idiot to pass it up out of fear. If it was a trap, then she’d be an idiot for opening it up. But she had little left to lose. She was dead anyway.

Taking the chance, she opened it up. The hinges squeaked before a rush of air was exhaled from the box. The container was still airtight, that was at least one good sign. Also, nothing projectile came flying out to suffocate or poison her. Also a good sign.

Peaking into its contents, Natalia gasped in relief. It wasn’t a wealth of medicine, but it was something. And it’d help for at least a few hours.

Grabbing the syringe she looked at her arm. It’d been a while since she’d had one of these in her, she knew she needed a vein, and she knew it was going to sting. But after everything else, this was nothing. Balling her hand into a fist, she used her other to tap at her arm, remember how the nurse had done it before. A vein throbbed but it wasn’t much. Hell. It was probably nothing.

And she’d probably end up tearing through the vein when she did this.

It was better than nothing, she decided. Carefully, she slid it in and pushed down until the blue liquid slid through the tube, into her arm, hopefully going into the vein.

She grunted out in pain before she could stop herself. Groaning as the medicine ran cold, then hot through her bloodstream. When it was over, she pulled it out, placing the syringe back into its allocated spot. It wouldn’t do good to leave evidence of herself lying around.

Slinging the bag off her bag, she dragged it, herself and the contain of medicine into the hollow tree. It was a small spot, cramped, but she leant back, finding comfort in the rough bark pressing against her back. She could breathe easier. Both the samarians and the verokins were tall, it was likely that they could miss the hole.

She wasn’t safe, but she was safer hiding in here as the medicine flowed through her, than running around outside. It’d be a few minutes. Just until her blood had circulated her body.

_What was Union standard medicine doing out in the forest?_ She wondered, rolling her head back against the tree. Beatles crawled around her, but she ignored them, brushing absentmindedly when they crawled over her skin.

She wouldn’t know if she’d even helped herself for another few minutes. The medicine wasn’t a cure. But it wouldn’t drift her to sleep either. It was a something, and at the least, would fix her head ache, help her for a short while.

She didn’t know exactly how long a ‘short while’ was. It could be days, or it could be minutes.

Shutting her eyes, she curled up tighter against herself, careful to avoid touching her belly. It was likely that the medicine was for the poison. It’d been blue medicine, not gold. Probably someone lived nearby and knew how dangerous the forest was, and how quickly poison affected them, so they had planted boxes at significant landmarks. If that was the case, then she was still infected, but she wouldn’t be dying any time soon.

She’d have to leave, though. There was no point staying in the tree for long. She wasn’t far enough away from where the beast had been. Chewing on her lip, she looked down at the contents on her lap and opened up the lid. Inside there was a label written in different languages.

A part of it was written in Earthen. But it didn’t help her. They were just standard instructions.

She breathed out a frustrated sigh. She had no sure idea to know what had been in that syringe. She knew that colour. She’d had it before in hospitals and _leant_ at school. It was standard procedure. Gale Infected Barry with Ants, he Requires Relief. It was a stupid school thing, but for the life of her, Natalia never forgot it. Gold for Infection. Blue for Antidote (for most of the standard poisons) and Red for Relief or painkillers.

It wasn’t a cure if it was something fatal, and the affects only lasted for a minimum of two hours. Six top. But if she was really, _really_ lucky, then she might stumble across somewhere with real medicine. Somewhere she could bandage her wounds.

Bagging the rest of the medication with the bag, she took a few seconds to landscape the area, deciding where to run for next, before she checked if the cost was clear. Shimmering out of the hole, she threw her bag back onto her back. Her stomach was turning uncomfortably from the medicine, and she was light headed, but so far, so good.

The drugs had the effect of making some people _giddy_ and whilst giving others a headache. She was the later. For a moment she was tempted to push the red inside of her, but without knowing how much damage she’d already done to her vein with the last one, not to mention how _dangerous_ it could be to mix medicines, she decided not to push her luck on that matter.

Instead she ignored it the best she could and tried not to let it cloud her judgement. The last thing she needed was to be brooding over her headache and have a pulse pistol pressed against the back of her head because she wasn’t listening to the forest.

The forest, however, was alive with noise. It was quite literally buzzing with sounds after she’d shot the grizzly beast. Large bumble bees, the size of her thumb nail, could be seen rushing past as she came to a denser part of the forest covered with large-petaled, colourful flowers that curled up in the sunlight.

The bees made Natalia hesitant. Any somewhat-big flying insect with a huge stinger, made her feel hesitant, but she’d killed a beast. She was surviving _at least_ two clans that were after her _and_ she’d survived the cave.

If there was anything she should be able to survive it was some insects that were more interested in the flora than her. “Irony would be if I died of this damned infection,” she muttered, careful not to tread on anything that looked importantly.

Mostly she kept to the green. The flowers were humming with bee territory and aggravating a group of them off would not be good to her already depleting health. Besides, she didn’t know what they’d do to her.

She also made sure to be wary of vines and anything that other plants and insects seemed to be avoiding. There were a few plants _everything_ seemed to avoid, and Natalia got the feeling that they didn’t depend on photosynthesis to feed, but a far more meatier diet.

The air became more humid the further she walked through the dense forest, as it also grew darker. The canopy of tree tops seemed to thicken around her, entwining until it seemed like _it_ was the sky and the trees were reaching up to it. Vines entwined around the old trees, far older than where she’d first entered, until they were as wide as they were tall.

Never had she imagined that she’d see such life. Such magnificence. Earth had nothing to compare, not even its buildings could ever hope to be as awe-inspiring as this forest, no matter how equally frightening and dangerous this planet was.

Natalia spent the time turning her head everywhere, trying to take everything in at once. But with each step forward, Natalia got the feeling that she was becoming _very, very lost_ in the forest -- more so than she’d intended -- or that soon, she’d accidentally end up somewhere getting mined. She’d pop out into a clearing where a bunch of verokins would turn, see her and then it’d be too late.

She had to be careful.

The area was rich with plantation and probably many more large, nightmare-inducing beasts. What else lay beneath the soil, especially when it was so fertile, Natalia could only begin to wonder.

The area smelled sickly sweet, and the more vibrant flowers she passed, the more her nose became irritated by the smell. It clung to back of her throat and made her violently cough as her throat became thickly coated in the scent.

Natalia considered turning back but the idea was perished when she found her eyes searching up at a large tree that branched out wider than any house she’d seen. It was thickly roped with vines, some of which blossomed small budding flowers the size of a rain droplet.

Looking up, she craned her neck. Further up in the tree, nestled in thick branches, was a treehouse. It looked dank and empty, but if there was anything she knew, it was that it could contain _something_ to help her. At least give her a look up over some of the shorter trees. She might be able to see something in the distance.

Natalia turned around, looking for anything to help her climb.

“Vines it is,” she grumbled, lifting her foot up onto a thick one close to the ground to test its strength. The vine held strong as she hoisted herself up. Thickly, the drug was still rushing in her system. Without it, she wouldn’t have had the strength, let alone the determination to climb the tree. She’d been lucky, if you could call it that. Good. She dropped back and looked up, making sure there wasn’t an easier way to climb up. Like a rope ladder hidden or something.

Otherwise it was going to be difficult.

The climb wasn’t too high, but it was going to be at least sixteen feet and she didn’t want to know what would happen if she fell off. She didn’t trust herself to come out unharmed a second time, but her mind seemed to grab her fears and lock them in a mental box for later to deal with. Above her was hope, sanctuary. There could be food, water, a _radio device_ to call the Union! It acted as a glimmer of hope in the dark forest.

Focusing on breathing, she dropped the bag from her shoulder, swung it around so that it was on her front instead of her back. Feeling steadier, she began her climb. She found her first footing easy, but from there it became tricky. Her muscles began to protest before she’d made it two feet off the ground.

It felt hopeless.

But she tried, another foothold on a vine, another hoist. God dammit, she _wished_ she’d done rope climbing back in school. At least then she’d have some experience.

After a long attempt and struggling to make it another, half foot up, Natalia was ready to quit as she pressed against the tree.

But just as she was about to make her way done, suddenly the vines began to move. There was no tree to cling to and hold on for dear life. She was suspended in air, her hands tangled in vines and her feet unsteady on the plantation footing. She yelped, a scream pressed tight, clogged in her throat as she looked down terrified. Slowly, the ground became further and further away.

Fear held heart like a fist, unable to struggle against the vines. Any moment the jaws of the tree would open up and swallow her whole into the a giant, mutant venus flytrap of something.

To scared to watch it happen, Natalia’s eyes squeezed shut, waiting for death, rejecting it as much as she could when...when her feet landed on flat, hard wood. She stumbled, falling forward into the treehouse, onto the floor.

She was so stunned by the plant’s help that instead of moving, she just laid on the floor, blinking dully. Had that been a trick?

Had the vines really just helped her because she was human? Because it was easier than letting her climb over it? Did it have an altering motive or...did it just not matter? Natalia rejected all the ideas and pressed down them all to think over later. For now, she murmured a small, “thank you.” Then swallowed, coughing to clear her throat before she said again, much louder, “Thank you for helping me.”

She wasn’t sure if it heard, but there was a creak in the tree that sounded like a reply.

Instead of pondering further on the strange phenomena, Natalia raised her eyes to her surroundings. The treehouse was a single room containing a bookcase, a hammock bed, a chair, a large window, which light filtered through as much of the dirt as possible, and a single bathtub. The place had obviously been left unused for a while, and Natalia wondered if the person ventured out one day and never returned.

Turning, she looked at the bed and how somewhat welcoming it was in comparison to a cave. She could crawl in and sleep for days, if she wanted to.

Smiling, she looked down at the floor. There was also a box sitting under the bed.

Venturing closer, she eyed the box both wearily and with hope. On the side was the double (one thicker than the other) horizontal, gold stripes. The colour had caught her eye. But only now, closer, did she notice a single blue vertical line. Wiping her her hand over it, the white semicircle could be seen. Natalia grinned, excitedly snapping the box open. She knew the colours, the Union sign. This was a box of _good_ medicines, the expensive kind. They would help her for at least a month if the box was fully stocked in the refrigerator unit.

But it wasn’t fully stocked. Two vials of green liquid out of the twelve were inside. Longingly, Natalia’s fingers stroked the three of the empty imprints. There was a spare syringe, still in it’s seal beside the green vials. Sighing, Natalia took them. They’d be enough for now.

It was probably his secret stash that she’d stumbled on before. Something for safe keeping if the person ventured too far away from their home or something. He probably had hunted close around the area.

It didn’t matter, she could already feel the fever returning. Snapping open the seal of the unused syringe, she prepped her unused arm for the needle. The other one was certainly damaged from her clumsy attempt, just as this one would be. The green liquid, however, would speed up the process of healing and at least fix most, if not all of the infection symptoms she was currently suffering.

She could walk into an infested area of the bubonic plague for eight hours and not get sick as the drug worked its way through her system. It was beautiful stuff. Ingenious and it was Ahlyssian made.

She moaned as she injected the liquid into her. It burned hotly, but _God_ it was beautiful. Relief filled her as she slowly pulled the needle out and placed it back in its place. She’d need it for later.

Blinking furious at the sudden heightened vision, she grinned at the bright colours. With her head spinning, Natalia walked over to the hammock. She knew she was going to fall unconscious for a few hours and probably sleep through a few more. Carefully, she fumbled into the bed and nestled herself deep in the blankets, already feeling the dreams take hold of her.

It was magical. The world glowed just for…

 

 


	5. Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Run. That's all that mattered. Run. And run fast.

5.

Natalia chewed on lip, staring at the books. She wasn’t sure if they were worth anything, if she should take them with her. A part of her wanted to. But a voice of reason kept insistently telling her they would just be dead weight.

Slowly, her fingers caressed the cover of the singular book that had caught her attention. It was a blue hardback covered journal, she believed. The edges of the paper were yellow from sunlight and hardened with dried dust and dirt, but the smell of the book as she creaked it open, was overwhelming. It smelt like the unknown, like a book that had been hidden in the depths of the library, far away from most prying eyes.

This book was dusty, old and written in a language she didn’t understand. It was possible that it was Samarian, but she couldn’t know. Leia had written in big albeit clumsy letters, but the characters from the journal appeared elegant, skilled. They were written in a hexagonal incasing that connected to each other. The letters on the page were more like three sides of a box with the cursive pattern starting inside and flowing outside of the area into the next box.

She assumed that the edges not touching each other were the separation of words. Possibly. They weren’t written in a line, but in groupings. Sometimes with strange markings that didn’t touch the box at all.

There was also slashes and odd symbols that could resembles pauses or a form of punctuation between boxes. She didn’t know. She hadn’t studied other languages before.

Snatching up the book, she took it in her hand and decided then to take it along with the box of medicine. She’d leave the others behind. If she was lucky it might be worth a pretty coin. There was even the possibility that someone might translate it for her.

Standing up, she tucked the book under her arm and walked over to the window. Rubbing off a section of dust at eye level, Natalia peeked outside. The sun was already setting, making the branches and leaves glow orange in its light. She could see the canopy of trees continue on for what seemed like forever in the direction she was facing. Rubbing further at the dirt, Natalia twisted her head and tried to see what was left to her direction.

A few kilometres away, by her estimating, there was a peak of something metallic glimmering in the light. _That_ was where she was going to head. It was probably a satellite dish or a radio tower, giving a higher chance for a galactic-phone. With everything happening, that would be her best bet at communicating to the Union or at the very least, finding fuel.

Taking the rope she’d found, medicine and the journal, she placed them into her bag and set off. Hunger and thirst were setting in her body but she wasn’t dying of either any more. Not with the medicine in her system fighting off anything that even resembled an infection, disease or poison.

She was probably the healthiest now than she’d ever been. Even the gash the bear-creature had given her the day before, looked to be a few weeks old instead of brand new.

Natalia’s hand brushed over the stomach wound, feeling the irritated red bumps. It’d be another scar on her skin. Something else to add to her imperfections. Smiling, she picked up the back and threw it over her shoulders.

The quicker she left the better she’d be off.

Awkwardly, she climbed down as far as she could before jumping onto the thick, spongey grass. Mud squelched beneath her toes but she carried on, lifting the bag higher on her back. It was near uncomfortably heavy on her shoulders but the bag balanced relatively well so that more of her body carried the weight than just her shoulders.

Passing into unfamiliar territory again, the sound of humming bees invaded Natalia’s ears. Shutting her eyes, she listened, attempting to differentiate between the sounds of the forest. There was an odd croaking nearby, mosquitos that she’d slap on her skin as she felt them bite, and birds. There were so many different sounds of birds singing out.

Her eyes opened in darkness before adjusting to the mild light. There was a fair distance she had to walk, and without anyway to understand what the direction was, it would probably take a while. If she didn’t get lost and miss it all together.

Her steps were heavy and the mud would stick to the underside of her foot. It was like walking on damp carpet or socks. It was an odd feeling but somehow it made her feel... _clean_. When the mud dried she might feel different, for now it was a welcomed sensation, even if it left footprints behind.

She had no way of knowing how to hide her travelings, the best she could do was break as few branches as she could and try keeping to grounds that wouldn’t leave a footprint. If she was lucky, they’d already lost her trail and would find it difficult to find her again, but she doubt she was that lucky. She’d left pretty big clues of where she’d been, and these people were natives. They knew their landscape back to front.

She needed to learn quickly about how to hide. Looking at the trees, she considered climbing them and going from one branch to another, but it was too easy to get stuck and have to double back. The thought still stuck, her mind tossing between risking time for her safety, but as time continued, and the further on she walked, the higher the trees got with fewer limbs to climb.

Natalia sighed, breathing in the forest as she passed by strange, thorny-flowered plants.

It smelled odd. There were places among the brush that she found it more comfortable to breathe in through her teeth, and others that she took great, deep lung-filled breaths. Eventually, the flowers became sparer and the bees’ humming became quieter as different, more sinister sounds filled the air.

There were hisses, scattering sounds of things moving where she couldn’t see them. Giant webs from one tree to another began filling her path like sticky traps. It was foreboding. She didn’t like animals, she decided. Everything about them she’d seen so far had them been mischievous or horrifying.

She saw spiders here and there, hardly bigger than a circle she could make with her thumb and forefinger, but she knew that as the webs became bigger, more intricate, so would the spiders. The territory she was finding herself walk into, was not a welcoming one.

It was odd how the landscape seemed to change drastically within a hundred or so metres of each other, she thought. She’d never read about such phenomenas before. Back at home, the streets were the same until the horizon, and then some. Buildings were stacked tall with homes for people who could barely afford them. The grounds were paved with concrete that was so cracked, kids used to colour them with chalk.

There was a game played with coloured pieces of plastic. Kids would stand on their tiptoes and hold a handful of plastic high above the coloured pavement before letting go. The kids would claim two colours, one for the plastic and the other for the pavement.

It might be red-blue or green-green depending where the plastic fell on the concrete. The winner used to get all the kids lollies, or a settled debt. Whatever kids had to offer. It just depended on the situation.

Natalia’s mum forbid her playing the game. It wasn’t until much later that she understood the game was gambling and chances of winning depended on the number of plastic verses how much area someone’s coloured pavement covered. Her mum used to yell at her when she played it, especially when she was caught teaching Caroline how to play.

She missed those days. Especially when she’d work up the courage to say sorry and have her mum hug her as she apologised for yelling. She missed the hugs, how comforting they were and how sparing they became the more she grew up.

Sighing she dropped the bag off her shoulders and felt relief run over her body. She needed the break, she decided. Needed to feel the air on her back. The humidity was killing her.

Stretching her neck and shoulders, she listened to the sounds of the forest again before her eyes snapped open. She snatched the bag off the ground and ran towards the sound. Laughter bubbled in her chest as she took a deep breath, smelling the clear scent. Her fingers clawed out, breaking through thin strands of web, and pushing through ferns and bushes before she saw it. Running water.

She’d found a creek!

Natalia dropped to her knees, her fingers burying in the water before she gulped it eagerly. The water hit her face, sprinkling droplet down her skin and through her hair. Her body shivered against the cool difference mercilessly. Nothing had ever tasted so good.

She moaned, taking in another mouthful than another and more still until her stomach couldn’t take another drink and her mouth no longer felt parched. Her eyes seemed to flutter as she finished, her body out of breath from the vicious way she attacked the water with her cupped hands.

She’d felt insatiable but forced resistance as her stomach began to protest. Gasping air, she dropped back, slipping her feet into the water as she took a few seconds to breathe and look up at the sky. The trees still clustered close, but there was a long thin crack that seemed to run over the creek. Above her was a moon. Large and luminous as it stared down. It must have been getting late, she realised. She’d have to keep moving. There was no telling what kind of creatures lurked the dark.

Her mind went to the Samarians. They were creatures of the night, no doubt with a good eye sight for the dark. This time was to their advantage.

Though the area appeared untouched by them and the Verokins, Natalia knew it would be otherwise. _Someone_ would have trekked and mapped out the area and that someone would probably be hunting her right now for the same reason Maya kept her ‘safe’ in the house. After all, they were a community. One who would easily team together against an alien for the better of their kind.

Natalia’s head carefully searched the ground. Some of the things that Maya had said didn’t add up, though. She had _honestly_ seemed to care at first. It was until after she told her story that Maya seemed to look at her differently.

Was it possible that...if she hadn’t done that, Maya wouldn’t have gotten Korran to call the Verokins? Was it possible that she’d have been safe?

Natalia shook her head, wild strands of red that wasn’t tangled in the mass on her head, could be seen dangling in front of her eyes. With a breath, she tried to blow it away before finally just tucking the strands behind her ear.

What did it matter about the past. It was done. She couldn’t change it. It was like thinking over Caroline and her dad. She could still lay awake at night thinking about the _what if_ s. She probably always would no matter how hard she tried not to. But it wouldn’t change anything. It only made people obsessive and bitter. Like her mother. Every time there was too much wine there was _always_ the yelling, at her, at herself. There was always someone to yell at and blame.

Natalia shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. _Think of something else. Think of the grass, the trees, the sky...Evangeline._

Evangeline’s face fluttered to her thoughts. The cold, penetrating gaze, the smirk on her lips. She’d slide one leg over and then another onto Natalia’s body...and then…

 _No_ , she didn’t want to think about that. It hurt too much to remember that night. She didn’t want to think about Evangeline. If she was dead, if she’d been in that cave with her. Natalia would prefer to never think of her again and pretend she was back home with her husband mourning her. Possibly telling her mother that something had happened.

Maybe paying for her mother’s silence.

Not that her mum would take it. No. She’d want justice for her family's death. She’d get herself killed in the process too, screaming that a mother shouldn’t die before her children. Just like she did before, just like she could be doing now.

Natalia didn’t want to think about that. She wanted to think about something happy. Everything seemed so distorted with black in her thoughts, now. It was hard to filter out anything that was just pure happiness or...something. But escape was. Survival was. It wasn’t happy, though, but neither was it painful.

She’d survived so much in just a few days, more than she ever would think possible. All of it was purely dumb luck though.

Natalia laughed, a deep heavy laugh that bursted from her mouth and shook her stomach. “Maybe,” she laughed, having to hold herself against the tree to right herself, “maybe my luck isn’t so bad,” she realised. She sighed, smiling then. Bitterness cringed in the back of her mind, but she held onto the laughter. It was crazy that she was laughing, and it made no sense, but it felt good, made her feel alive.

Opening her eyes and blinking, Natalia paused as she came face-to-face with a very, very big head with eight unblinking, shiny black eyes. Taking a step back into the trees, her own eyes went from it’s head, to it’s body and then the eight legs protruding out it. A scream held frozen in her chest.

 _Hello child,_ it spoke into her mind, _what are you doing here_?

“Sp...sp...spider,” she fumbled. Her grip on the tree wasn’t enough as she stumbled backwards and fell onto the ground. She felt her skin scrape against the tree but Natalia hardly noticed the pain as her eyes remained locked on the absolutely gigantic spider that loomed above her.

It’s fangs clicked twice together as its head rolled for a better angle to look at her.

‘ _Spider, yes. I can see the images in your mind. They are smaller offspring that come from over a millennia ago. They are the children of my ancestors.’_ The words were deep and gravely. Obviously masculine. Natalia stared, feeling herself penetrated by its gaze.

“You’re in my head,” she whispered.

‘ _It is a way of communication, yes. We do not have vocal chords to_ speak _with.’_ It seemed to pause briefly at her, before deciding to speak again, ‘ _Fear not, I will not eat you child, you are too small. Thin.’_ The words didn’t in the least put Natalia at ease. She couldn’t trust anyone at the moment. The planet was made to deceive her.

“Why...why are you here?” she asked instead. Its pincers clicked and at it, Natalia could feel amusement washing inside of her that didn’t belong to her emotions. The spider was laughing at her question.

‘ _I could be asking you the same thing_ ,’ he told her. ‘ _This is my home.’_

Natalia was confused before she ripped her eyes away from the eight one looking at her, and searched around the area. Behind it was a funnel-like web that buried deeper into the forest. She could see cocoons of large animals wrapped in the spider silk behind the spider. Her stomach twisted as she saw movement inside the silk, muffled noises begging, pleading in pain.

That could be her…

Shaking her head, she forced herself to stay very still and look back at the spider. Her throat was swollen in fear as she tried to speak, “I apologise. I wouldn’t go there. I’m looking for-”

_‘Fire. Yes. You seek to destroy the forest.’_

“No!” She shouted, “You don’t understand. I want to go home. I have a mother, she needs me, and a dog. They’re my family. The fire would be a distraction, it would run across the land...I could make it burn an area nowhere near here. I don’t seek to _destroy_. I just need...I need to distract. I need to use their phone and call the Union and...home. I need to go home.”

_‘You do not need to go home. You desire to go home.’_

 

“I need to live and if I stay here I’ll die!” she proclaimed, her voice ripping through her. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes before spilling down her cheeks. “I don’t want to die. I want to go home. I want-”

‘ _Yes. I can see that. I see everything.’_ The spider paused, pulling backwards and allowing Natalia to slowly rise to her shaking feet. She was petrified, and a part of her want to scream and beg even though the spider had already said he wouldn’t eat her. It was only a mild whisper telling her that she was still breathing that kept her from running. That alone was something.

She took a sidestep and the eyes flicked to her. Nervously, she grounded her movements. “Can I...can I leave?” she asked, her voice trembling.

 _‘No_ .’ It told her simply.

Her body almost collapse under her own weight at the word. “But...you said I was too small,” she pleaded. “Too thin.”

‘ _For myself, yes. But I have children and they are much smaller than myself.’_ A single knee collapsed before Natalia drew herself backwards. She could feel sticking web against her skin, tugging in her hair, on her clothes.

“No, no-no. Please, no. I haven’t done _anything._ I’m just a girl.”

‘ _And you will make a fine dinner_.’

“ **NO!** ” she screamed. The words seemed to shake the area. Everything went quiet and still. Natalia drew another step backwards in silence. At the same time something moved. For a moment she thought her step had caused the ground to quake, but horrifically, a large noise rose up and cried out into the air. Natalia’s blood seemed to drain from her at the sound. The spider froze.

 _‘Awake_ .’

There was nothing, then a step, a loud quaking step followed by another then another until the sounds of something running could be heard. Natalia watched through the thick throng of trees, horrified, as it parted like it was nothing but water. She forgot about the spider, forgot about _everything_ as suddenly a very big, leathery, vibrant yellow _thing_ could be seen. It’s mouth peeled back into a rectangular shape with four teeth at each corner. Inside the jaws were rows and rows of teeth before revealing a large, jagged beak. It pushed the trees and before Natalia could think, she was running.

Somehow, she knew. She _knew_ that _that_ was the beast she’d been marked for. She could feel it in her bones. After escaping, she’d walked straight back into its territory.

 _Fuck,_ wasn’t even an adequate word at that point.

Natalia ran, pushing herself through thin trees and bushes, faster and faster. There was no time to climb. To breathe. Turning her head, she gave a last look back and watched in glimpses of trees, as the spider fought the beast.

It wasn’t enough. It wouldn’t be enough. And she wasn’t fast enough.

Her heartbeat was all she could hear in her head, pounding loudly as she pushed through green, brown and grey. Her feet squelching in places and painfully hit rocks. Stumbling and painful. She didn’t hesitate. Didn’t stop. She kept moving, pushing herself as she heard the fight far behind her. It wouldn’t last long, already she could hear the unmistakeable sound of crunching as the spider was defeated.

Webs were easily brushed past and for once, she didn’t care. She kept running. She’d deal with any small spiders on her later, if they even remained.

She was falling before she noticed. Her feet tearing down a ledge like she’d done before. This one was different. Older. Trees had already begun to regrow on the sides and hit her skin hard, but she didn’t cry out, refused to make any more sounds to her attention. She didn’t care about pain. All she cared was that the trees might hide her briefly if she was lucky.

As soon as her feet hit the dirt and rocks, she was off running again, not stopping. Behind her she could still hear the beast roaring in the distance.

Would it still follow her? She wondered. Of course. Of course it would, she could deduce that easily. She was freaking _marked_ for God’s sake! Whatever that meant.

She pounded up the hill, not daring to even tempt fate in the mines. No. That was the beasts territory. She was probably safer in the forest. At least there they were both foreign to it. Probably. Maybe. Fuck. She didn’t know about the monster at all!

Natalia ran and burst through the trees onto her hands and knees. Tripping over a root. She fell on grass and looked up to a clearing in the middle of the woods.

There was the base. Or…one of them. She’d somehow managed to find it through running. Shaking her head, she pulled off the ground and quickly ran diagonally back into the woods. If anyone was in the large, round, metallic building, they could see her and would just as easily tie her up for the beast.

It was necessary for her survival to keep pushing on.

Her lungs were already burning as she ran, she couldn’t breathe no matter how much she struggled to. She gulped, trying and then without warning, she slipped and fell into a ditch with a small cry.

Her feet squished something with a terrible sound and a horrendous odour arose, violating her senses until she vomited. Even bile smelt better than _that._ Things at her feet began to move and worm around her. Frantically she looked up, wanting to climb out. The ditch was hidden by shrub that covered almost all of the top. It was barely deeper than four feet and just as wide. Natalia almost went to pull herself and continue running when she heard the roar nearby.

The foul odour, if she was lucky, would cover her scent. It was definitely rotting meat, and whatever was at her feet was probably decomposing it. Her stomach rolled, her body gagging again at the stench.

Covering her nose, she breathed through tight breaths in her teeth and shut her eyes against the putrid smell. It burned but this was survival. You didn’t get far smelling pretty and clean.

Remaining squatted in place, Natalia had the idea that the ditch was probably purposely placed with rotting meat to hide from the beast if things got hairy and they couldn’t make the short distance to base. The more she thought about it, the more she thought about the terrible smells in the thicker part of the forest.

They were probably everywhere for people to hide in near the beast’s area. How often had she probably almost fallen into one and not even realised?

Above her she heard the quaking steps of the creature. Natalia held her breath, covering her nose and mouth with her hands, though her eyes kept looking up at the shrub covering her. She couldn’t look away.

A shadow passed over the hideout, but she didn’t know if it was It or something else. Her eyes burned with the smell and her lungs were crying for another breath. But her body remained still, crouched low in the ditch at an uncomfortable angle. Natalia could fear the bag pressing against her weight, weighing heavy on her.

It was all so much.

Then she heard another step, than another. A sniffling sound that became loud and louder. Natalia squeezed her eyes shut and the sound disappeared with the footsteps, getting further and further away until eventually she couldn’t hear it any more.

Still she remained in a crouch, slowly pulling in tight breaths between her lips. She was too afraid to look up and see the beast staring at her with whatever kind of eyes it had. If it even had any.

Natalia bet her life that the beast went by sound.

Even her breathing remained still, not daring to inch in the slightest movement until she heard the birds again. Only then did she timidly stand up and slowly peek from the bushes with her whole body shaking, looking around for any sign of something yellow.

She almost jumped at the trodden yellow flower, but after that she deemed it safe enough to pull herself free. On her body, thin, yellow bugs crawled. Frantically she brushed them off, shaking her whole body and dragging her feet through grass and dirt until the bugs were gone and feet weren’t covered in whatever she’d stood in.

Natalia didn’t have the stomach to look down in the ditch and find out what she _had_ been standing in. She didn’t even know how long she’d remained there, but a sob broke through as the adrenaline wore off quickly. Right now, she wanted to lie down and cry. A part of her wished the beast had found her, at least then it’d be over.

No. _No_ she couldn’t think like that. Blinking, she looked up at the sky, focusing herself on detail around her. The moon couldn’t be seen any more, and the sky seemed lighter than when she’d run into the ditch.

It was probably almost sunrise. She’d only walked two or three kilometres in a whole night, but she’d felt like she’d ran the entire eight or so hours it’d been. Those moments must have only taken a few minutes at most, though. Fear had made time run faster for her. Maybe. She didn’t know. It was all a haze right now.

Slowing her heart rate, she focused on breathing, listening to the area. Her ears perked at all the sounds before she visibly relaxed. She could do this. She was tired, beyond exhausted, but she had to see the area, make at least an idea of a plan. The monster was long gone now.

Natalia edged closer to the base, hiding in the brush as her eyes scrounged the area. There were solar cars laid out and scattered around that she could probably use as a potential get-away. Keeping low and hidden, she watched as Verokins used some of the solar cars before driving out onto some of the large dirt roads that lead around the planet.

Natalia moved around before pausing and crouching low behind a bush. Near the scattered cars was a depot. There was an unused plane there with Verokins walking around. They didn’t seem to be keeping guard. Natalia smiled, she may not be able to fly the plane, but there would definitely be flammable fuel there. It was just a matter of finding it.

The sun was rising too fast though. In the light of day she’d be too easily seen. Looking up, Natalia smiled at the horizon. If the clouds held up for long enough, though, she’d have the cover of darkness to slink around it. She’d have to be careful. It was high risk going straight in to _get_ the fuel, but if she was lucky, it would all be worth it.

All she had to do was grab as much fuel as possible, leak a large amount from the depot to the forest, spread the rest over a large amount of the forest and light it up. When it all goes to flames, they’ll be rushing to put it out so fast that they’ll leave areas unsecured, like the phone.

She only needed one intergalactic phone, and a place like that would probably have multiple. It wasn’t something that would require her to get past guards, nor did she need any weapons, but as soon as it was over, she’d run for a solar car and take off in the opposite direction.

It was probable one of the most flawed plans she could ever come up with. But hope was bubbling in her chest. She had a chance. That was all she needed.

 


	6. Burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She was so close, she was almost there. All Natalia needed was that phone and then she would be safe.

6.

For hours, Natalia had been trying to talk herself into finally doing it. From her lowered position in the bushes and trees, she had studied the area for over an hour now, that was after coming back from a few hours sleep and preparing everything else.

Before, when she’d grabbed dry leaves and sticks, she’d fallen into a heap and sobbed quietly to herself, muttering prayers to anyone that would hear her. She was so close and yet now more than ever, it felt so far away and impossible. But she couldn’t give up. Not yet.

She narrowed her eyes at the darkness, watching carefully at the movements. Big, burly verokins thundered around noisily, ordering each other round and doing things that possibly could count as surveillance. If it was, they were either really lazy, or perhaps were only looking for larger beasts instead of herself. The good part was of those idly walking verokins, most them kept to a short path around the biggest of four buildings.

Natalia chuckled bitterly to herself.

_They’ll hardly notice me. I’m too small, too much like an animal. They won’t even care_ . Besides, it was that or wait to be taken by the beast. At least this way there was a chance she’d probably die on sight. It’d be quick, painless, she theorised, lying to herself.

Her plan was simple. The area was dotted with solar cars that had been left out to charge. The depot was wide open for access and there was plenty of cover to duck and hide around.

They _really_ didn’t expect someone of her build to go up against them. Maybe there really was a God, or gods, or some deity. Something had to be looking out for her.

Shivering, she watched the area. The guards were sparse on the grounds. Unlike the Samarians, Verokins didn’t appear to be nocturnal and many were probably asleep or off doing other nightly duties. She didn’t know, she didn’t care. What did matter was that she had an opening. It was now or never.

Taking a gulp of breath, she nodded and pushed off the ground. Her backpack was heavy on her back, thunking quietly in her quick dash, but she had a feeling that she needed to bring it and so far, her gut-feelings had kept her alive. There was no way she was going to go against them now.

The air was chilly and spat lightly with rain and mist. Most of the heavier raindroplets had gallen at midday while she was partially asleep, but the clouds had remained like she needed them to.

Natalia ran lighter, careful where she treaded. Ducking behind the first solar car, she searched the back of it for anything. _Score!_ A flare gun. It was overkill, but it’d be good enough as an ignition. Ducking her head around, she checked if the coast was clear before running to next solar car and pressing up against it.

She reached up and grabbed another flare gun before chucking it down the other side of the waist band. It was already uncomfortably tight with the first flare gun but she’d deal with the short-term pain. It was more of an irritation in comparison to everything else she’d dealt with in the last few days anyway.

Peeking over the solar car, she looked to how far away from the depot she was. Still five hundred meters at least. Glaring hotly, she ground her teeth, determined to do it, and made a last run for the next car, low.

Her feet were quiet, but there was still a noise. As she pressed against the back of the solar car, the light padding of an animal made Natalia froze. It must have heard her steps. Hell, it could probably hear her heart beating against her ribcage.

Turning, she looked into the red eyes of a black dog. It was thin, short furred, bred for agility. She’d never outrun it. A deep growl gutted from it, warning her, daring her to take a step.

Natalia glared hotly at it. She’d be damned if a dog was going to make her lose her progress. She was too fucking close. “Stop it,” she growled at the dog. The dog’s ears perked, confused and it’s back legs stepped uncertainly at the command. “Sit,” she growled again. The dog’s lips covered over the previously bared teeth and instead became more confused. It clearly wasn’t a heavily trained guard dog.

She was easily winning, dominating it. Her mother would be pleased if she knew how much that stupid reality tv show about dogs had gotten into her. She’d _never_ hear the end of it.

“Be a good boy and sit.” The dog didn’t, but it wasn’t growling and it wasn’t running off to find its owner. Natalia narrowed her eyes before she remembered the meat in her bag. Digging inside of the bag, she pulled it out and smiled. The dog immediately began salivating at the sight of it. “Sit.” The dog sat. “Here you go,” she handed the relatively large piece of meat to the dog and watch as it ran off. At least that would keep it occupied for a while as it chewed down on it.

Hopefully it wouldn’t make him sick.

Closing up her bag quickly, Natalia made a run for the depot, pressing herself against the wall that wasn’t being touched by the flood lighst before she slowly dragged herself close to the cornered-edge and peered around.

There were a few verokins, but they were busy working on the plane. If she was quiet enough…

She pulled back, looking for the guards. She knew that they didn’t walk near the depot. Instead they encircled a larger area, closer to the forest. Hopefully they wouldn’t look her way. They didn’t seem too fascinated in anything but what they were doing.

Looking into the hanger again, she sighed. The place was lit up brighter than her home had been back on Earth, confirming that the aliens weren’t nocturnal. It’d make it difficult, but it also meant that she had a good chance of getting away in the forest if she was quick and quiet enough.

Her heart pounded loudly in her ears as her throat began closing up. She was almost there _._ Natalia forced herself to breathe slow, long breaths as she looked for the fuel containers.

The depot was loud, noisy with them fixing their selective objects and no one was looking outside the personal bubble. Slowly, Natalia pulled out from the wall and crept around to press against a metal container. No one saw her. Everyone was still busy, mildly chatting about the mining exhibition.

“What’s the hold up with it?” One grumbled, his voice a low, deep rumble that made Natalia’s teeth chatter.

“Classified,” another replied. Natalia peeked around to look at them. They were big, wide like she remembered. But they weren’t all grey. Some of them had brownish exoskeleton, other’s had a paler, creamier colour. The strips of glowing flesh beneath the layers also appeared to vary in colours. She could see one grey Verokin with blue, while another grey one had green. Natalia shuddered and forced herself to pull back, swallowing.

“Classified?” A Verokin growled. “That’s _felled.”_

“Yeah, it’s classified like my wife’s yurna.” All the men laughed and Natalia took that as a moment to sneak to the next spot. “It’s a government thing. It means something happened that they don’t want to admit. Maybe one of the tributes got loose.”

“That’s a rumour,” another dismissed. “Everyone says its something because they want to start an uprising. Anarchy. We’re already at war with our own colonies, we don’t need to start fighting amongst ourselves. It’ll make us easy targets for the enemies if we rip each other to shreds. I say we let the government have their classified for now, but once the war’s over they can take their classified and shove it up their wives’ yurna.”

A roaring cheer was screeched and Natalia blocked her ears of the sound, feeling dizzy until they stopped.

At the quiet, she took only a moment to steady herself before finally grabbing the fuel tank. It was too big to grab another from the large group of six, but it would be more than enough if she was careful. Grabbing a knife from an exposed table, she waited until the group broke out into another roaring laugh before she wedged off the the small tanks’ cap and loosened her own for a certain leak. Carefully, she adjusted them both so they’d spill, lying the large on down on its side, and her own angled in its wheeled holster.

She was sure they heard the noises she was making when they cut off their laughs suddenly, but it was only as she went very still, crouching herself ready to bolt that she heard the crackling noise of a wire-radio.

It was a local one, she though, but she couldn’t be sure. Regardless, it was of little use to her. She needed an intergalactic phone and _that_ had to be wired directly to the ginormous satellite dish sitting on top of the biggest of the four round, connected buildings. She, however, was currently at one of the smaller buildings.

“Sir,” one of the men reported. “We’re in-- yes sir.” Cursing, Natalia realised that the other end of the transmission was too far away to hear. “Right away sir. We’ll get right on to it.” There was a sound of salute before the crackling ceased. “Right, you heard him. Commander Thiel wants this plane ready before the nights over.”

“What does he need the plane for?”

“To _fly_ ,” the verokin superior replied dryly. “You were there, I didn’t hear him tell me on a super-secret code. It’s probably to look for the _classified_.” The men grumbled before Natalia heard them begin picking up their tools.

At her feet she could feel the fuel spilling. Would they notice? She’d have to be quick leaving. She needed something to distract them.

Suddenly the dog came bouncing in, barking at the verokins as he planted the meat down at their feet. “What in the world-?” One said, “where’d he _fucking_ get that?” Natalia took the opportunity and hoped they wouldn’t notice as she grabbed the fuel contained and made a silent run for it. Behind her, she could hear the verokins walking around in heavy steps to surround the dog.

It’d been blind luck that the dog had run in from the other side of the depot, keeping their attention far from her. It had probably tried to follow her and ended up going somewhere else with the meat to bury it. Koala used to do that whenever he got something like a bone. He wanted to bury it, but he knew that if he did he’d get into more trouble.

Perhaps the dog had wanted to bury it, but been unable to.

Natalia didn’t really care. She was free.

Gasping, she stumbled through the brush, almost falling to her knees. By god, she’d made it back to the forest safely without even getting caught! She wanted to laugh and cry and scream out in happiness. She was _almost_ there now. All she had to do was douse the trees and then light it up. And then…

There was still a long way to go, but she couldn’t help but let out a small giggle. They didn’t even know she was there! _Right_ there under their noses. Natalia sighed with relief. All it’d cost her was a piece of meat and a lot of fear.

The tank was already half empty. Lifting it up with all her strength, she tried to splash it across as large distance as she could. The rain would have made it difficult, but if the fluid was a flammable as she bet, then she’d be able to shoot from a pretty far distance with the flare gun, even with her bad shot. All she had to do then, was run as close to the building as she could get before she waited for the big _boom_ of it hitting the other fuel tanks.

Excitement rippled over her skin in goosebumps. Freedom was in her grasp, she could taste it in the air as she placed the fuel tank down with its remainder contents. Ripping through the brush for better aim, she made sure she was as far away from the container as she deemed safe. Natalia was already shaking in excitement as she pulled out one of the flare guns, switched the safety off.

Taking one last breath, she steadied her limbs and aimed the gun. Slowly, her finger squeezed the trigger, feeling the anticipating rock through her. With a loud, deadening _bang,_ she fired.

The pulse ignited beautifully, streaking up through the trees rapidly and consuming faster than she intended. Her happiness melted into fear as quickly, she realised her distances wasn’t far enough.

Grabbing the bag at her feet, she ran. She could feel the fire tearing through the forest, already too hot. _Shit, shit, shit_. She cursed. No, she was too close. Making a quick decision, she ducked out of the forest and ran. No one would really take that much notice, she hoped. But in the forest, she knew that dodging tree would make her too slow he was too slow.

Her legs ran faster than ever, feet bouncing off the short blades of grass. With horror, she stumbled, rolling on the ground in time to see the fire consume a large amount of the forest just as an explosion thundered through the area. Natalia ducked down, covering her head quietly in fear of shrapnel before slowly looking up at the sight. Fuck.

She ran.

It was all happening faster than she expected. She needed more plans, more escape routes and back up escape routes and _weapons_. She should have kept that knife she’d used to open the container. That was one of the Sirrian made weapons. They cut through steel in a single blow and shattered shields.

They were expensive, very expensive. The Verokins must have been making a lot of money to have one just laying around in their depots. Unless it was used for metal cutting of some sort.

_Why did she freaking leave it there._ Anger beat her muscles as she ran for the large building, feeling it gurgle and bubble in her stomach. Never had she been so idiotic.

But it was too late now to wonder about weapons. All she could do was run now. Her heart seemed to be in throat, almost choking her in beats and she headed for the front of the open building. Of course it was open, of course it was low security. She was lucky right? Lucky that the doors were wire to automatically unlock for a fire escape. Lucky and stupid. They seemed to be an even match for her.

Forcibly, she pushed through the doors, into the large hall and skidded to a stop. She needed to find her bearings. She’d never had to search for a _phone_ before but there had to be something simple about it, right? Some logical place that was easy access for the damned phone.

It suddenly dawned on her that she had no idea where someone would place an intergalactic phone in such a building.

_I should have thought this over_ , she thought in between panted breaths, _I should have…_ Natalia paused at moved and ducked behind the first solid thing she saw.

She had to give it to the verokins, this place was _nice_. She wasn’t sure if it was quickly built or if it was perhaps one of those buildings that they flew over and dropped down before assembling, but it was _nice_. All shades of brown and white with shafts of red through it. It was warm with all the wood and with a marble like floor and-

And she needed to not be thinking about the decoration and instead on keeping quiet. Someone could walk up and see her crouched behind the big statue if they walked through the front doors. Not that anyone would be any time soon.

But Natalia remained silent, listening before she slowly looked around the edge. Whatever the shadow had been, they hadn’t seen her. Quickly rise to her feet, she pulled out further from behind the statue and surveyed the area. An artwork caught her attention on the centre of the back wall. A highly detailed painting of some famous verokin, no doubt. Reminded her of old Earthen war heroes that had been painting.

But it was the paintings background of the two planets in the atmosphere that had made her pause. Natalia shook her head. _Not the time_ , she reminded herself. Pushing from the statue, she headed for the first doorway. Peaking around she found it quiet, and empty. Primarily, she would run by gut instinct, she realised. And her gut was telling her to go this way, _quickly._

Running, Natalia stumbled around a corner and found herself down an extraordinary and quite large, marble hallway. There were mirrors in between the doorways, and a large mural on one of the wall.s A lot of money had gone into the details of this building, it seemed, and she wondered if there had been a particular reason as to why.

Coming to a t-section at the end of the hallway, Natalia darted right. She had no idea where she was going, but there wasn’t time to worry about that. She needed to find the freaking phone, and her gut told her it was further away than she needed it to be.

Scrambling, she skidded to a halt, almost slipping on the polished surface as she saw a shadow coming around the corner. She grabbed at the first door and slid in, careful to close it as quietly as she possibly could.

The door clicked shut and Natalia cringed in fear, but the person didn’t appear to have heard it. If they had, she’d expect them to come blundering down and check on the noise. However, there was no way she was going to go out there until she was sure they was gone.

Frantically she looked around the room for anything that could resemble a phone. Time was ticking, she didn’t have long until the area got busy again. It was far likely that there would be some protocol needed to check that the area was secure and she didn’t want to be there when it happened.

No phone seemed to be near her. The room was small, red with a single bed and a bedside table, nothing else.

Natalia opened the drawers, looking for anything that could help her; a _map_ or...or a keycard or something that might mean _anything_.

There was nothing. Each drawer was empty, the bed, too was untouched. That should have been the first thing to set her on edge. There was no way that the verokins would _make_ a bed. It seemed wrong. They didn’t appear like a type to curl up at night under blankets. Besides, the bed was too small, too fragile for their size.

Who was it for then?

Natalia swallowed the thoughts and returned back to the door. The room was empty of anything useful and she was wasting her time staying there. Slowly, she turned the handle, creaking open the door to make sure the hallway was empty, before slipping out. Again she ran silently up the hallway, around and down. It was like a maze. She seemed to be heading in one direction and then get turned around completely again by a sudden corner.

Taking a breath, she opened another door and looked inside. Another spare room. Empty of even furniture. Shutting the door, she groaned and moved on. She’d never had this much trouble looking for a freaking phone before. There was one at her work that she answered every weekend! Her boss had one in his…

“Study,” she whispered, finishing the trail of thought.

Natalia ran, looking for something that would hint towards a study of some sort. All of them would have it and many of them wouldn’t-

She crashed into someone, knocked off her feet. Papers went everywhere, scattering in the air as they floated down. Natalia rubbed her head and slowly looked up. And up and up still until she saw the tusks and then two amber eyes that were the same as the glowing strips under his exoskeleton. “Oh fuck,” she mumbled.

The verokin’s stomach rumbled with the laugher that poured mockingly from his mouth. “So it _is_ true,” he said, his eyes steady on hers. “A tribute escaped. You’re the first to do that in _nine_ cycles. I’d also say that you’d last the longest.” He grinned at her, showing of his mouth. It was mostly toothless, but Natalia caught side of two big, blunt teeth near the back of his throat. She had the odd feeling that they were for grinding.

“And I will be the last,” she returned looking up at his eyes with false-bravo. Her heart was beating loudly, and slowly she unclenched her fingers from fists. She needed deft hands, nimble for what she had planned. Carefully, she rose from the ground, her eyes flicking down his body to see what she needed to. “You’re shorter than the others,” Natalia told him.

A low, menacing growl pulled from him, but it was too late. He’d been clumsy with his anger. She reached quickly, grabbing the gun that he’d tucked into the exoskeleton and ripped it out to point at him.

_“Ooh_ , I’m soo scared,” he said to her, pulling an expression as he danced his hands around mockingly. She’d never seen something so human before. It was strange. “Whatever are you going to do to me?”

Natalia grinned sharply and stuck the head of the gun under a layer of the exoskeleton that glowed. He paused instantly.

“How about now?” she whispered, finally seeing fear flash in his eyes. “How does it feel now to know that your on the other side?”

He didn’t answer and Natalia shoved the gun further through the layers, watching him hiss.

“Do you take other women, other girls? Are some younger then me? Are there young boys too? Do you make them do your work for you, because they’re _cheap_ , expendable?” she was near-shouting by the end of it. The verokin rumbled a short laughter and Natalia felt nauseous from the sound. “Tell me,” she hissed. “Tell me what you did all of this.”

“Because they’re fun to play with when they don’t work any more.” Natalia pulled the trigger and felt the vibrations go through the barrel of gun, down her arm until her whole body felt as the pulse glowed red and burned through the verokin’s jaw, into his skull. The aftershock flew her back powerfully from the contained pulse, and slammed her into the hallway wall. She felt her head rubbery bounce with a loud crack before she felt the ground.

The gun had slipped from her finger but as her ears hummed loudly from the gun pulse, she grinned, drinking in the pain. “I hope you burn in Hell for your sins,” she whispered through clenched teeth as she looked over his crumpled body in front of her.

Painfully, Natalia rose to her feet and grabbed at his arms, pulling him into an empty room before shutting the door behind her. She didn’t want anyone to notice him.

They’d notice the blood if they walked to the spot, but if they just looked down the hall they wouldn’t. That might buy her more time before the building was on alert. She didn’t want to find out what would happen if they had to choose between the fire and their tribute.

Picking up the gun again, she flicked the safety on and held it limp in her hand. It wouldn’t be any help unless she was close up and had the advantage, but it was more than she had before.

Running, she pushed through a door at the end of a hallway and found herself...right back at the beginning? Her legs shook as dread filled her.

Flicking, her eyes went to glare at the ugly painting only to stop. It was different. A different pose, a different background. Different style. She felt a laughter rise up in her throat. She could have cried with relief. Looking around to the glass from doors, she saw the raging fires and watched as the verokins attempted to extinguish it slowly. She must be right near the depot.

Natalia made a decision quickly. When the fire was at a quarter of its state now, she’d leave no matter what. There was no point in staying if there was a chance she’d get killed.

Looking around, she went to the door next to the painting, and pushed it open. It wasn’t an office, but it had a phone. A big metal one wired and bolted to the wall. There was a Virtual Interface to make video calls, and plastic receiver and dialler for standard voice calls.

She didn’t know how to work a virtual interface vid call. She wasn’t even sure if someone would pick up a vid call at the union, but she’d make damn sure they’d pick up an emergency call.

It was with stark understanding that she knew that there’d probably been a room like this at the other entrance. No doubt, she’d ran pass it with another look, not giving it a second glance. But it didn’t matter, she was here now. She couldn’t find the energy to smile, her throat felt constricted with emotions and her stomach was about to heave, but somewhere inside, she was relieved.

Running forward, Natalia grabbed the phone and punched in the number that was burnt in her brain from work. She’d seen the number posted thousands of times and had always been itching to dial it, just to see who’d be on the other end.

The phone was connecting with the satellite and bouncing off connected satellite's in the galaxy until it reached an interconnected, and she waited, listening to the phone be quiet for the first few beats. _Oh God, what if it’s not active, what if I blew it out in the fire? What if-_

It began ringing and finally, relief flooded her, collapsing her to her knees. She was there, she was almost there, by god, she was there _._ All she needed was them to pick up the damn phone. But it rang and range and rang until finally the phone clicked and stopped ringing. _Yes!_

“Hello, is anyone there?” Natalia asked, “Hello? Please, this is an emergency. Hello?”

“Hello, this-” a calm, welcoming feminine spoke before Natalia interrupted.

“Please, you have to come,” Natalia said, her eyes darted to the window of the front door. She could see the fires getting depleted out the window. She didn’t have much time. Less than twenty-five percent...they were getting there too fast. “My name’s Natalia Del Shaw. Please, can...can you track where I’m calling from. I don’t know where I am!” The receiver was hard in her hands, but her fingers clenched tight enough to make the squeezed plastic crackle.

It took all her willpower to relax. She didn’t realise how frantic she’d get when she finally got on the phone.

“I’m sorry, you’re calling from—”

“No, no don’t say your sorry, please, just come. I was taken from Earth, you can ask my mother! I haven’t been there in…I don’t know less than a week? Has it been a week? Just-just call her. Her name’s Adele Shaw, she lives in Sydney. _Please call her,_ ” Natalia begged, outwardly sobbing hysterically. “Come get me. I…they’re coming from me, I don’t have much time.” Tears were running down her face as the woman apologised again. “God fucking damnit, _please._ I’m begging you. I don’t want to die. My mother needs me, please call her, prove that I’m missing. I was caught up in some human trafficking ring upon…upon a space station owned by Desmond Swforza.”

“I’m sorry,” the woman said again, “you’re in co-ordinates: 0…3…1…5-5…2 of the solar system-”

“You’re a fucking _A.I._!” Natalia realised as all hope seemed to drain out of her. “Fuck you. I _trusted_ you.” She could hear her voice echoing from when she shouted at Maya, “You were supposed to save me! Fix this!” she screamed, slamming the receiver down. Dumbly she looked down at it, unable to breathe.

She’d called the wrong number. There was no other number, she’d gotten it wrong. She remembered it wrong, or Earth had a different one, or a hundred and one other possibilities that all lead to the same conclusion.

No one was coming.

Sobbing, she crumbled to the floor, Natalia couldn’t remember what she was supposed to do...what-

An explosion shook the ground. Natalia gasped, pulling in her deep calming breaths, focusing her mind. It didn’t matter that the Union wasn’t coming. She couldn’t stay here now. She needed to survive, find another way or at least hide and keep low until she thought of another plan. Turning, she looked out the window. The fire was almost out, she was behind schedule.

Pushing onto her feet, she grabbed another quick, low breath before running off, heading out into the big hall, through the front doors and straight for the first solar car she could see.

Her feed pounded on the dirt, aching. She didn’t care, she could do this. She swung the gun in her hands and tucked into the leg of her pants, hoping to God that it’d stay there like she needed it to.

Her feet burned as she skidded to a stop and picked up a solar bike from its side. It was thinner but faster than the solar car she’d had before. The only issue was that she’d had less experience with solar bikes, and the last time she’d driven a motorcycle, she’d fallen off and skidded under a wire fence from an abandoned farm.

She didn’t have time to worry. Already she could see verokin’s who’d been fighting the fire, looking at her curiously, confused.

She also spotted a few humans -- _huh?_ \-- who were shorter beside Samarians. _Shit. Fuck._

Clicking the bike on, she kicked on the first gear, turning the throttle as she did. Immediately the bike flew away, thankfully taking her with it.

Natalia didn’t have time to look around and see what was happening, but she should have.

She almost ran into a verokin before leaning away onto the road. She should have turned back to see him. Instead, she didn’t notice him raise his gun and fire.

Pain shot through her leg and the bike wobbled unsteadily before she squeezed tighter and steadied herself. Her other leg kicked a gear, and the bike was speeding faster, leaving them behind in the dust. It wouldn’t be long before they caught up.

Looking down, Natalia spared a glance at her leg. It was a graze. If it had been a direct shot, she’d be missing half her limp. But it was painful graze, and a potentially fatal one if she didn’t bandage it up soon.

Natalia ground her teeth and veered off to a somewhat unused path. The good thing about the bike was that it was fast and she could take it off road. With everything happening, she would be less afraid of falling off the bike than getting chased.

The wind cut painfully against her leg, and as best she could, she tried not to move it and allow it to just somewhat lean against the bike. She went as far on the dirt road as she could, making sure to fly up as much dirt as possible to hide her tracks before she pushed off into the forest.

She had to move slower in the forest, hoping that it would also slow them down. She hadn’t seen any other solar bikes in the area, and for good reason. The solar bike probably belonged to a Samarian. They were too thin for Verokins, and impractical. But she doubted that there’d be many more, if any more. It’d probably belonged to one of the more prominent Samarians, someone who needed fast access back and forth between areas.

Natalia grinned. She’d probably damaged their plane, not to mention other equipment that was there. But after that, her chest went hollow. She’d also probably killed people. Verokins. Maybe other humans had been there, other samarians. And as much as she hated them, hated who they stood for, they were still innocent bystanders. _They_ hadn’t done anything directly to her, and killing them wasn’t really part of her plan. She wasn’t a killer.

No. She was now. She’d killed the Verokin in cold blood because she’d let her anger get in the way of her judgement. There hadn’t been another option though. There was no way of knocking him out and he would have called for help. She would have been really screwed then. But the sound, the feeling of the gun kept going through her head.

Natalia stopped the bike, peeling herself off it gingerly with her leg. Removing her cardigan, she grabbed the part that was slashed by the bear with her teeth and tore. She was lucky that through all that, she’d-

Natalia paused. The bag had been through a lot. The container wasn’t meant for that kind of damage. With dread, she slowly dropped the bag from her shoulder and opened the material, pulling out the container. The vials, kept safe in their perfectly hollowed out areas of the foam, were intact. The syringe, however, had been bounced around, snapping the tip off. There was no way she could use it now.

She almost called out, screamed in frustration. Instead she cried, big heavy, quiet sobs until she could pick up the shredded cardigan and tightly tie it around her leg.

She couldn’t use the other medical needle. There was no way to use it. The vials required _that_ needle to break the impenetrable seal, create a vacuum that would draw it into the needles tip before pushing it into her bloodstream. The other needles were standard ones with the medicine already in it. They were disposable.

But there was one left for pain.

Reaching in, she grabbed the red vial from her bag, prepped her arm and stuck it in. Relief flooded her system within seconds. “Bloody beautiful,” she rolled out in a breath before standing up. It was the first time she noticed just how thin the shirt was. It was dirty, damaged with nasty rips just as her blue dress had been, but it was on her and it was lasting better than the blue material ever could.

The pants too were lasting better than she thought they would. Natalia grinned, adjusting the flare gun one side of her hip, and the pulse rifle on the other. It was a big gun and it’d pack a nasty punch. But it was hers and she wasn’t going to let anyone take it from her. She finally had something to protect her from the wild.

At least until it required a new plasma clip. Depending on how much the previous verokin used it, she could have up to around eight-hundred shots left in the gun. It definitely had a fair few, the gun was still humming against her leg.

Her dad had liked guns, he didn’t keep any in the house after she was born, but he liked them. One of the ways to get his attention was to ask about guns and pulse weapons. Especially the semi-automatic pulse.

Natalia paused briefly at the thought of her father. She wondered what he’d think of her now that she killed someone. The verokin, no matter how disgusting, was someone’s son. She’d been taught not to kill, taught that the only time it was acceptable was in a life or death situation. She knew there were shades of grey and she understood that for the most part, it _had_ been life or death…

But it hurt. And who knew how many others she killed. But it didn’t matter. She hadn’t thought about them when she attempted it. She hadn’t thought about anything but her own damn survival.

And look where that brought her. Nowhere. She was alone on the planet. She was going to die. But she’d be damned if she let them just take her. She didn’t go through all that to just lie down and give in. She wouldn’t become like them, just waste lives like they were nothing. She’d find forgiveness for killing eventually, even if it was in purgatory or...wherever. She’d find a way to be forgiven.

But she wasn’t going to give up and let herself get thrown to the beast. She still didn’t want to die. Some part of her still believed that she had a chance to win this. To leave evidence behind about the trafficking ring, or what was happening on this planet or...something. That’s all she needed to do if there was no hope for her survival.

Natalia packed everything in her bag, making sure it was a secure as it could get. Her fingers recoiling briefly at the other piece of meat before she remembered it was there. She hoped the dog was alive and happy with the piece of meat she’d given it. She’d gladly give it the other piece if she ever saw it again.

With a heavy heart, hopeless but determined. Natalia swung her leg over the bike and continued on slowly through the forest, looking for somewhere to hold up for the day until she could work out her next plan.

 


	7. Hunger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She was so hungry, even the dirt had begun looking appetising.

7.

It was light outside. The sun was up in a crystal blue sky that seemed to fade white into the horizon. Natalia pressed against the mouth of the cave, sighing. She pretty much knew this cave back to front. It was shallow, dingy and contained a few small spiders and other insects. But it was near a large clearing. Later, at nightfall maybe, she’d drive and see where it went. The clearing might go nowhere, leave her stranded…

God she was hungry. She’d tried cooking the meat, got a lot of it inside her before she ended up vomiting it back up, amongst other things. She wasn’t sure if the meat had gone bad or if her body just couldn’t eat whatever it was. Probably a mixture of the two. It had looked bad. But she’d been so hungry. She was _still_ so hungry.

But she was lucky that was all that had happened. She’d had worse food poisoning before, been horribly sick for days until her mum had her taken to the hospital. If worst came to worst now, she had a vial, but the vomiting eventually ceased, the nausea went away and she hadn’t had to use it. It was a last resort. But she was hungry. So hungry. She was considering the insects now, the grass. Anything that resembled food.

She’d found a body of water though, at least she wouldn’t die of dehydration first. Just hunger. She needed to eat. Needed to find food. But the more she tried, the harder it seemed to find anything.

Tirelessly, she’d dug the grounds for roots, forested the trees, the area for berries or even an animal to shoot. Nothing. There were birds and small animals, but they were too small, the plasma left nothing but toxic parts. Her leg was getting too sore to walk very far, now.

Natalia shivered, tired. She was trying to watch for animals, see what they ate, what plants might be edible. But she never saw them. Sure, she heard them, caught sight of a wing here, a fluffy tail there. Sometimes a flock above her head that’d fly into the distance. But nothing. Her stomach was hurting. It’d eat her muscle first, then whatever fat she’d have left. Only after then would she begin to truly die of starvation.

She had a few days, maybe even a week, but she wouldn’t last long. All the information she could rack-up in her head told her this. Dark whispers seemed to cut it even further in half, believing that she’d fall asleep and never wake up. She ignored them.

_There’s still time_ , she reminded herself _. Not just seconds, hours, but days. I have days_. She’d kept saying the mantra over and over to herself, but the more she said it, the more it felt like lies.

Natalia took a shallow breath and sighed, reclining back. She’d said her goodbyes already. Carved her farewell to her mother in the mud before wiping it clean. She’d even scratched her name into a tree. But it was stupid. It had all been stupid. She knew death was soon, at least this way she won. She would choose when she’d die. Not them.

If the worst came...well, the guns were still at her side, safe. The flare gun mostly hidden in her pants (excluding the large bulkiness of it). And the pulse rifle was still tight in her grip, humming underneath her fingertips.

The hum was relaxing. It helped her to concentrate, to sleep and to think. It helped her with whatever she needed, except her leg. But that didn’t worry her so much. She just needed a few days for that. The gun would be enough until her leg healed. She never thought she’d find comfort in such a violent thing, but there it was.

Natalia smiled and narrowed her eyes, looking out. If things got desperate, and eventually it would, she’d settle for eating worms in the grounds. The long, thin, purple ones she saw when she sometimes didn’t notice what she was doing and dug in the dirt with a stick. They didn’t look appetising, especially the way they squiggled around, and a part of her hated the idea of killing something so helpless, but she was so _hungry._

It’d take more than a few to satiate her, and there was a chance that they were poisoned, but she’d take that chance. Hell, she'd eat the dirt if it would make the pain go away.

Turning her head back into the cave, she looked at the bike to make sure it was still there, tucked as far back as she could get it. All the tracks leading up to the cave were as hidden as possible. She’d made sure of that when she’d arrived.

The bike wasn’t going to change any time soon and turn into nice bowl of pasta or even rice no matter how hard she kept looking back at it. But like the gun, it was comforting.

_A bowl of rice would also be really comforting,_ Natalia mused. _Really, really comforting. Especially if it came with ginger and water chestnuts and capsicum, oh and definitely soya sauce_. Just like...Evangeline used to make for her sometimes when her husband -- Desmond, she wanted to remember his name until she died and curse it with her last breath -- was out on business.

She laughed. Now she knew what business he was really in and it wasn’t the kind that delivered food and water to the people that needed it most. Nor was it the kind that owned shops, that owned companies that sold food to the general market. No, that was probably all a front for the trafficking. The Union only came once a month to the space station. The rest of the month was probably human trafficking. Or at least partially.

She sighed at the thoughts before shaking her head. Whining over food and cursing people far away wasn’t helping. She needed to keep an eye out for movement, for animals. Someone would eventually find out about Desmond. He’d get justice even if she couldn’t be the reason for it. Eventually, he’d make another mistake and the government would have him then. He’d be prosecuted and stacked with evidence so high even his lawyer will be drowning. Then, finally, he’d pay for the lives he took away from their families.

She hoped he paid dearly.

Natalia shut her eyes, smiling mercilessly at the idea of slow, painful payment. She was tired. No, not tired, exhausted. But her hunger was keeping her up. Eventually the need to sleep would win out, but until then, Natalia would stare outwardly, feeling her foggy mind give in to what she wanted and try to search for something, anything that could lead her in the direction of food.

She was too tired to get out and try foresting again. She’d end up falling off the bike unconscious. If she could even sit up on the bike right now.

No. She could. She would if she needed to. She just needed time to heal and…

She’d done all she could for now. She wouldn’t die like this. She was just so hungry, so very, very hungry that her standing made her dizzy. Hunting was probably not an option anymore. She needed to scavenge, fine something easy with her clumsy fingers.

Her eyes began to feel heavy and Natalia decided to call it a day and crawl back in to the lulled fire. She only lit it at day to keep herself somewhat warm. At night she usually went off searching for a new place to hide. Not that she’d found anything yet. Each time she went out, she came back here empt handed and another step closer to being caught.

When she did leave, she’d make sure to rid all evidence of the fire. She’d sweep away the ashes and cover it in dirt or something. Anything to put off the trail. Maybe she’d go out to the clearing this time. The forest had pulled up no new results, it was time to try another idea.

Natalia sighed, cringing as pain shot through her stomach. It been three days since the phone call. She’d found some nuts, berries and had tried the meat. Since then she’d been very unlucky and had gotten desperate. She hadn’t yet come across any samarians or verokins directly, but she’d come close a few times. Heard them stomp and slip around. It haunted her sleep, feeling their breaths so close she could smell them. But she was here, safe and as far away as she could get for now. She’d stay here for a few days, heal before moving on.

There’d been rain again on the second day, and that seemed to have washed away most of her tracks. It was unlikely that they’d be able to find her now. She was fortunate, but they would be relentless, especially after she blew up their plane -- though she knew that it wasn’t their only one. There would be more, she was sure of it even if she hadn’t heard them.

She hadn’t seen their ships at the depot and they had to have transported all their equipment, the people, themselves here _somehow_ from other planets. Not that she had any idea how large their ships would be, or how many were used for transport.

When she thought back on the first night, back at the space station, she could remember Evangeline’s face when they heard them dock. She remembered getting pulled away, far into a closet space, or tiny room. Evangeline’s hand had covered her mouth so tightly she almost couldn’t breath. Natalia remembered hearing them stomp around, talk in low, intelligible voices before they pulled open the door and found her, ripped her away from Evangeline.

She’d struggled, screamed, reaching desperately for Evangeline. But it’d been useless. One of them held her long enough to inject something in her arm that had made her dizzy and then too quickly she’d fallen asleep.

But she didn’t remember the ships. She’d barely remembered what they looked like until she’d run into one, again. She wished she hadn’t. She wished she never went on that space station, never met Evangeline, never got that job, never…

It all came back to one bad choice in the end.

_Family first. Dreams later_ . God, she should have listened.

Gun tightly in grip, she fell asleep with her back to fire, curled up against herself. She hoped that she was a light sleeper. Prayed that no one would find her, but eventually they would. It was only a matter of time. She knew that, but she also refused to accept it. The gun slipped in her hands as she fell deeper asleep.

Natalia dreamt of her parents, of a happier life that was ripped away by buildings growing tall and a terrible, great fire. She dreamt of 2a verokin reaching out, his belly laughing and mocking her. She dreamt of men and women burning, screaming her name, screaming for her murder. Blood pooled around her. Evangeline stood on a building, reaching out, screaming for her to take her hand.

The blood came up to her chest and drained. Her blue dress was red and torn. Evangeline left without looking at her. Men laughed. A child cried out her name in the darkness.

She tried to run, but her speed was slower, her grip on the gun tight. She turned, lifting the gun and feeling it fire as if slow motion towards innocent victims. She tried to stop herself, watched as people dived to stop her, only to be blown away and burnt.

The gun slipped from her grip finally when no one else was around to kill. The fire turned to ash, to smoke and then nothing.

She was alone.

There was a pinch. The gun seemed to slip further from her hands. _Natalia_. “Natalia,” someone called out far away. She stirred. Gasped. A heavy weight slammed onto her legs, knocking her to the ground.

Natalia awoke. Her fingers clenching nothing but the air. Startled, she sat up only to be pushed back down. It took a few second of blurred darkness before she saw it. Or rather, felt it. It was a tail on her legs, weighing her down, pinning half her body into place.

“Who-?” she asked, trying to move her legs, but the weight was too heavy without trying to push it off.

“Korran.”

She felt dread at the sound of his voice, then hope. “Korran, you don’t have to do this,” she pleaded. “I’ll just get on the bike, run. You can say that you were too late or that-”

“They have Leia. They have all our children, Natalia. If I don’t get you back by tomorrow, they will all die.” Natalia swallowed. Her breath quickening as she tried to understand the situation.

“Please,” she begged, “please let me go. I’m just a kid.”

“I don’t want to do this. I don’t. My wife and I...we didn’t mean for this to happen. We thought you were just one of their slaves. We would have cared for you, looked after you and hidden you until a Union medical ship came and stocked us. Then we would have discreetly given you back like we do with all the slaves that make a run for it.”

Natalia shuddered at the possibility of what could have happened if she’d just kept her damned mouth shut and feigned amnesia. She could have been safe by now, could have been carted on her way back home. Instead, she’d gone and told them everything in hope that they’d help her.

“So...because I was a tribute, you couldn’t?” she asked. “Why?” the word seemed to stretch, plead for everything. She hated the sound, hated her voice for sounding so small. It was pathetic.

“Tributes have to be paid. A certain amount is marked, you can’t unmark and you can’t just _replace_ a group of tributes. The beast smells out its food by the mark, and it only marks a contained amount. It has to eat you otherwise it will become temperamental and then…and then it doesn’t hibernate. It eats, consuming an entire planet worth of food if it desires, before it settles back down again.”

“Why can’t they just kill it?” she asked. “Get rid of it entirely. People would be safer, _they_ would be safer, wouldn’t they?”

“They can’t _kill_ it because it’s the reason why the mines are so rich. If they keep it there, feed it, they make more money than they ever would anywhere else. It’s balance.”

Natalia nodded, slowly coming to understand why it was happening. “So...I need to be given back otherwise they lose a lot of money? But then, why don’t you run, tell the Union? Surely they’d fight for you and help to get them off this planet, wouldn’t they?”

“We’re not in Union space, niela. They don’t fight for us. They deliver medical supplies as part of a peace treaty, but they won’t ever defend us, even if we begged. But maybe they would help, renegotiate the treaty. But the verokins have a lot of money and they have a lot of sway with the council. They could end up pushing the renegotiation back for months, years. We’d more likely end up dead before the Union could help...or worse.” He sighed, crouching down to even their height. “I’m sorry, Natalia. I have to take you in.”

“Please don’t,” she whispered, “please, I’ll free your children. I’ve gotten into the building before. I-”

“You burnt them. And for that, they burnt one of our villages down in debt. They said it was _our_ fault. That we did it. We _fought_ the fires with them, as if they were attacking our own and in turn they burnt out villages. Do you understand Natalia? You’ve been the cause of more death than the verokins had before you arrive. _Sinquis,_ if we had just drugged you and turned you in, then hundreds would still be alive.”

Natalia whimpered, horrified. Her mouth opened and shut, unable to properly articulate her feelings. Everything inside of her had been hollowed out by his words. People were dead. She’d been the direct result for people being dead. She’d allowed an entire village, an entire...village, of people, families, children…

They were innocent bystanders. They had done nothing but lived and she’d taken that away from them.

Natalia choked, gasping a breath. Maybe he was lying, maybe… She hoped. But looking into her eyes, all she could see was anger and sorrow. She was sure that if Maya or Leia had been hurt, if anything happened to his unborn children, then she wouldn’t be having this conversation at all.

“How did you find me?” she managed, repressing the dark thoughts.

“I know your scent. I’ve been tracking you for days. It wasn’t until they burnt the village and took Leia that I decided to directly come after you. I...had hoped that you were still alive. I was afraid that you might die and have your body eaten by something else. When I tracked your scent into the jurshien territory, I was afraid that he or his children might have eaten you, but...it appears that something killed him.”

“The beast from the cave. It...heard me yell and probably thought I was the...yerl...sheen,” she fumbled over the word. Unable to make the same noise. Korran seemed to chuckle bitterly at her words.

“You’re lucky, aren’t you?”

“Not really. If I had been really lucky, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

Korran eyed her oddly, considering her words before he turned his head to look down her body. “I saw your wound, and I can hear your stomach. You’ll die within a few days.” Natalia laughed.

“The wound’s nothing,” she said, “a graze.”

“Have you looked at it?” he asked. Natalia dropped her head and looked away. She’d burnt it the first day she’d built a fire. She had bit down hard on a stick to stop from biting her own tongue off, and had burnt the wound so it’d heal. She’d never felt such blinding pain in her body before. It’d been overwhelming to the point that she’d dropped the stick that was used to burn herself, back into the fire before passing out. “It’s festering. Two...three days and you’d be dead. You would have probably died yesterday or the day before if you hadn’t burnt it, but your survival wont last.”

“I’m sorry,” Natalia whispered at last, knowing Korran was looking down at her. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I didn’t mean for innocent people to die. I just wanted to go home.”

“You didn’t mean to because you didn’t think, niela. By our fear of the Verokins, by the way they have acted you should have come to the logical conclusion that they would reacted swiftly and ruthlessly at your actions. You’ve cost them time and money, anyone in the same situation would be short-tempered. We are lucky that more haven’t died.” Korran sighed tiredly, peering down at her. “I am sorry that I have to take you.”

“No. No, no please. I’ll find away, I’ll fix this!” she begged, crying out in violent pain as he lifted her up.

“How? Your leg is useless, your mind near-insanity. You can’t feed yourself let alone save us.”

“Help me. Let me heal.”

“There isn’t time.”

“Please _,”_ she begged again, feeling him hold her steady on her legs. She made a movement to walk, to run, but she her muscles were too weak all of a sudden. So weak. More than they should be. Dizzily, her vision began to slowly tilt. “What did you do?” she asked, feeling the hot tears continue to run from the corner of her eyes, down her face. They itched, burning her eyes slightly as her vision rocked, swaying sickly.

“I haven’t killed you. You need to be alive. Your immune system worked too fast on the last dose. This one’s stronger,” he told her. “It’ll take a few minutes, but it’ll settle in. Don’t worry, you won’t even know it. I can offer you that as a mercy.”

“No,” she said, still trying to fight him. Her good leg barely moved, the other one felt numb. She couldn’t stand by herself, couldn’t walk or run or even crawl. She was dying.

The sky around her, seemed to blur from blue to green as he placed her high up onto his shoulders. She moaned, pain shooting up and down her body. Her ears droned, drumming her skull at the pain before she realised it wasn’t _pain_. She could hear something; a great, terrible noise. So loud and so big that it vibrated through her whole body.

Natalia swayed in Korran’s movement. Tiredly, refusing to give in. She fumbled desperately, feeling her shallow breath begin to swallow her. She allowed the panic to settle over her mind and evaporate as she grabbed at her waist clumsily, tugging the flare gun free of her waistband. With loose fingers, she tried to cling on as tight as her fingers would allow and rolled her other arm, with little control of the limb, to flick the safety switch off.

Never had the task been so difficult and arduous as it was then.

She could hear Korran talking, saying something as she weakly try to aim up at the sky and fire. The trigger was harder to pull, resistant against her. The gun seemed to flop around like heavy, thin rubber. She reached up with all her effort with the other arm, trying to steady the gun as her body violently swayed in Korran’s grasp.

She was tired. So tired. But there was a noise. A great noise. She knew she had to pull the trigger, knew it was the only way. She swayed, lifting it up but the flare gun fell limply, aiming for the trees. _No_ , she needed the sky. Needed for it to reach the sky. She aimed again. The target is big. So very big. She can do it, she just needs to _try_.

Her mother’s voice was in her head, buzzing like static electricity, telling her she was acting lazy. Natalia growled, swatting and losing grip of the gun. It almost fell and her heart slammed against her chest in slow, loud and painful beats. _No_ , she said, slowly prying her fingers around it again. _I’m not anymore_.

Korran was speaking again and Natalia seemed to slip in his grasp. She pulled with two fingers. Felt her finger slip, her body fall, but it didn’t matter. The flare was in the air. The noise was fading, going away...then suddenly coming closer as the force pushed against her.

Natalia laughed, hitting the ground, her body slamming hard onto the grass as a hysterical giggle winded her. Korran frantically tried to get her, tried to reach for her and pull her back up. She could see colours. Light flares of blue and red and white shining. There were noises. Lots and lots of noises.

She was fading and falling and the grass was so soft and welcoming.

Natalia stared up at the sky through strands of red. She was swimming in the stars. Swimming as Korran made a run for her and then seemed to fall himself, down and down until he faced her.

Natalia turned her head, listening as noises, so many noises, got closer.

“I win,” she whispered to him. Feeling herself floating up and up into the stars. “I win,” she told him again.

There were lights. Blinding and bright. Natalia could hear her own breath drawn in tight. She rolled, felt her body arch and lurch violently before falling back.

Pressure held her down. There were noises. Loud, obnoxious noises that she couldn’t understand. People shouting incoherently. Machine beeping wildly. She wanted to scream. Her throat went raw but she couldn’t hear her cries. Her body lurched again and suddenly she felt as though she was burning from the inside out and it was seeping through her pores, over her face and dripping down her throat.

The susurrant voices imposed her. There were too many. Too many different colors flaring. Her nose burned, her eyes rolled wildly. She was looking, searching. No, she was clinging to something in her hand. Something pulled, trying to get it out but she clung to it fiercely.

She was pinched, sharp and hotly. Then her body felt cool. Things were taken away from her. Her face felt cleaned. Slowly the burning lulled to irritation, then became numb. She relaxed. The voices drained, as did the light flares of colors until there was nothing left. Nothing but welcoming black drawing her further down into its embrace.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter sitting at 4000ish words. To be fair, it was only 3500 the first time I wrote it, but I felt bumping it up anymore would work against the story.


	8. Medical

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She'd awoken in a medical room, disbelieving she was finally off-world. But looking through her permanent record turned out to be her downfall.

8.

_“…the drugs that...were about...system… Stable vitals… All we can…wait.”_

Slowly, Natalia turned her head, peeling her eyes open to see where the noise came from. Beside her, a man stood tall, dressed in a lab coat. His fingers were dragging over the data-interface in grip before he looked up at her. “Drugs work fast on your system,” he grinned, amused at her vitals.

Natalia groaned in response. Wearily, she attempted to raise her hand to clutch at her throbbing head, only for it to be stopped. “Wha-?”

“Shh, you shouldn’t be awake yet. The sedative’s just wearing off. I’ll give you some more.” He leaned over, reaching with a needle to her IV drip.

“No,” she managed, grabbing his wrist. The word had come out all slurred from her mouth. Squeezing her eyes, she tried to concentrate on her thoughts. “Wait. Can you...tell me where I am?” She blinked at the fluorescent light before turning to the doctor. He had kind features, bright blue eyes. A part of her recognised that he was human as it went over the facial hair that dragged across his jaw bone and shaped up to under his lip. “Did I…?” _Die. Awake from a bad dream._

The words hung in the air, unable to be spoken as he looked down at her curiously. For a moment, she was afraid of the answer.

“You’re on the Six Riyãl,” he told her softly. “You’re safe now.”

She laughed, her chest hurting at the movement. “I’m alive?” she asked him.

“You’re alive. We’re taking you to the Union. They need to know what happened. But we’ve contacted your mother, so she knows your alive and well.” Natalia dropped her hand away, nodding at him as relief bubbled blissfully inside of her. She was safe. She’d made it. Managing a smile she curled her self up on the bed, feeling a tear slip down her face.

“When I wake up, we’ll be at the Council then?”

“Perhaps,” he said softly. “It depends. But sleep now. You’ll awake when you’ve finished most of your healing.” Natalia wanted to ask what he meant, but it was too late. Her body slipped, falling back into the inky depths of sleep allowing her mind to roll through her memories in the sleep. There were brief thoughts. Words thought over and images sought, but nothing was remembered.

As soon as something appeared, it disappeared, sinking into the depths of her subconscious.

Eventually sufficient time must have passed as her eyes opened again. Blurry at first, as if there was a fog covering her, before Natalia rolled her head to side, and the doctor’s face came into view.

“Hello Natalia,” he smiled softly, setting down the data-interface. “Don’t sit up too fast, just yet. Take it easy okay?”

Natalia nodded, carefully sitting up as he adjusted the pillows behind her. Thankfully, she sat back against them, smiling as she whispered, “thank you.”

“It’s no problem. Now, I have a few questions, if that’s okay. Do you remember me from before?” Pulling out a pen light, he flicked it over her eyes, checking pupil dilation and eye movement before placing the pen back into the pocket of his coat.

“You’re the doctor from before,” she said to him, speaking hoarsely. “Can I-”

“My name’s Doctor Phillip DeWitt. Water?” he offered. Heading to her feet where a table had been set. Natalia watched him pour her a plastic cup filled from a blue jug before he walked back over and carefully handed it to her. He smiled kindly at her, and Natalia returned it before bringing the drink to her lips.

As she drank, he grabbed the data-interface, adding another entry.

“Now, I just want to check if you have any memory problems. You took a few nasty blows to the head.” Natalia nodded as he took the empty cup away from her and set it back down on the table. “What’s your name?” Natalia watched him click something on the data-interface that pulled up her permanent record.

“Natalia Del Shaw.”

“Your mother’s name?”

“Adele Elena Shaw.”

“Good. Where are you from?”

“I was born in Melbourne and I moved to Sydney when I was six. I’m from Earth. I can also recite the alphabet backwards if that will help?”

“No,” he grinned. “It wouldn’t. Though it’s good to know your educated, not many on Earth are.” Natalia’s smile faded briefly as she looked away. “Right. Do you know what year it is?”

“I can tell you what Earth year it is, but no, I don’t know what the star-date is. We’re not taught in school, that’s university and even then it’s more specialised.” She smiled at him. “The last thing I remembered was Korran trying to take me. After that...it’s colours and-” Natalia pinched her brow as her head began to hurt. “A headache.”

“Cognitive reaction. It’s not a uncommon,” he smiled. “It’ll go away. Don’t think too much on it.” He clicked something else on the data-interface and frowned at her, “From what the report says: you were been taken by a samarian and managed to fire a flare into the sky. The ship saw you, landed and shot the samarian down when he tried to attack them.”

Natalia blinked at DeWitt’s words. She didn’t remember firing the flare, but she remembered Korran falling down beside her. “He’s dead?” she asked. Images of Maya...Leia rose to her mind. Did the verokins...did they…

She didn’t want to know.

“I’m sorry. They thought he was the enemy.”

“He was,” she whispered, swallowing, “I mean...they had his kid. He thought it was his only option. He didn’t…” she turned away. “What happened after that?”

“Lieutenant Pike called for a stretcher and immediate medical attention. You were taken into my care after that. I admit, we didn’t know what was in your system and it was touch-and-go for a while, but apparently you’re a fighter. You hung on. Quite literally. It took a lot to pry the empty flare gun from your hands.”

Natalia laughed before wincing. “Did I have surgery?” she asked, her fingers going for her leg.

“Your leg was badly infected, however, we managed to save it. So you don’t have to worry about cybernetic implants. You did a number on yourself burning it, but it probably saved your life. It;s going to have a nasty scar, but overall, you’ll be fine.”

Natalia grinned, lying back. “Scars are good. Scars tell a story.”

DeWitt laughed, once again setting the data-interface down. “You’re a storyteller?”

“Not really. Once I thought about it, but on Earth it’s not a good idea to get into something that doesn’t pay steadily,” she explained.

“Well, you’ll have a good story to tell now. Maybe it’ll solve all your troubles.”

Natalia shook her head. “I won’t write about this. I don’t ever want to remember those days I spent down on that planet.” The smile faded from her, “sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“No, I understand. I’ve had a lot of soldiers in this infirmary Ms Shaw. Many of them have said the same thing.” He smiled gently, his lips tight and frozen. Averting her gaze, Natalia nodded directed her attention to scanning around the room. It wasn’t a hospital by any standard, and the room was mostly open with room for six beds, and a single desk that was tucked away in the corner. Behind a glass sliding door, Natalia could see the surgery table. It was clean, sterile as though she’d never been on it.

The whole room smelled like disinfectant and medication. Natalia felt nauseous.

“What’s going to happen to me?” she asked, turning to look back at DeWitt.

“You’ll see the Council in a few days. We’ve almost arrived, we would have been there soon, but we had to make a brief detour to another planet while you were asleep. After the Council’s decision, you possibly might go home.” Natalia frowned.

“What do you mean by ‘possibly’?”

“There’s...a chance that the Council will want you to stay hidden. If they believe you -- which they will,” he said, seeing Natalia’s anger rise, “you’ll have protection and eyewitness accounts to what they saw that should definitely help your case.”

Natalia looked down at her hands, fiddling with the sheet. Dots began darting in her vision as she swallowed and asked DeWitt, “What happens? How do they sort out if what I’m saying is true enough, or whatever they have to do?”

“It’s somewhat complicated. First you’ll be called in to a tribunal to state your own witnessed events and accusations. However, _if --_ and you have to understand that there is a possibility that even though you’re telling the truth, there might not be enough hard evidence, or it’s simply not believable that you could have gone through such events -- but _if_ instead _,_ the Council believes you, they’ll view you as a key witness into the case. You’ll be put into protection until the court case is finished.”

“How long will that take?”

“It can take years.”

“Years?” she shouted, anger swelling inside of her at the impact of his words. “I don’t have- but my _mother_!”

“Your mother knows your alive. If this goes well, she’ll be compensated for your absence as you are the main income for your family.” Natalia blinked, biting her lip as she nodded. That was the important thing, right? That she was okay. Even if...even if all she wanted was to go home? Calming down, Natalia swallowed and leaned back on the bed. It wasn’t his fault, he was just explaining the situation. “Can...can you talk to me for a while? About...happy things or something?” she asked.

“Talk to you?” he frowned. “I-”

“No. I know. I mean...it’s stupid but...I haven’t talked to anyone for a while and I...I don’t-” She went quiet, cutting off her words. She _liked_ DeWitt, but she wasn’t sure if he was being genuine. A dark thought in the back of her mind crept up, telling her that this could all still be a trick. Maybe she was still on that planet, with verokins. Maybe Korran had grabbed her and taken her back and she was in a local hospital or somewhere experimental.

She’d seen humans there, at the structure fighting the fire. Who was to say DeWitt even was a real doctor.

Chewing her lip, she looked away. “I’m sorry. It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing.” Grabbing a chair, he moved it beside her bed and sat down. “You’re safe here. I promise you that. Look. Close your eyes for me, okay?” Natalia looked at him, flicking to see where his hands were and if he was holding anything. Laughing he waved them around. “See, no needles or other implements. Just, take a moment and trust me this. I promise I won’t touch you, I’m here to help.”

Taking a chance, Natalia slowly shut her eyes, carefully watched him for any signs of movement.

“Good, now press back, pushing against the pillows. You should feel it through the material. It might be unnoticeable at first, but it’s there.”

“Feel what?”

“A slight hum. If you listen carefully, you should be able to hear it too. A deep, low hum that vibrates through you. Throughout most of the ship, you’ll be able to feel it. When you’re feeling better, I can take you to the observatory room.”

“I’m feeling better now,” she told him.

She could hear him shaking his head, laughing at her. “I don’t think so. You won’t be able to move much, just yet.” Natalia frowned, pressing back further in the bed. A soft hum pulsed through the material, and slowly she leant closer. It was there, beats of a constant, low hum vibrating through the bed, to her. “Do you feel it?”

“What is it?” She pushed further back.

“It’s the ship’s engine. Where a fair bit away from the core, but it’s a relatively powerful engine. Someone else will be able to explain it better, but there you have it. It’s not exactly proof, but it’s something.”

Shivering, Natalia felt a smile bloom over her face, “I _think_ I feel it.” Opening her eyes, she looked over at DeWitt. “It’s really the ship engine?” she asked him. “Not just some radiator the wall’s pressed against, a power-board or something?”

“No. It’s not a trick. You’re safe here, Natalia.”

“I’m not sure I’d go as far to say,” she remarked, chuckling to herself.

“What do you mean?”

Shaking her head, she sobered her expression. “Nothing. I mean, I should have been safe on Earth. What happened, shouldn’t have happened to me at all, right? But here I am. I’m away from home, far away from everything I’ve ever know and...and…” and paranoid that everything is a lie. It was then that Natalia understood that she didn’t believe she was safe because it couldn’t just be over. Not after all that. It didn’t just _end._ “It shouldn’t have happened to me.”

“No. It shouldn’t have.” Reaching out, he tentatively touched her arm. Natalia sucked in a breath, tensing beneath his fingers before slowly relaxing. He was just trying to comfort her. “Is that what’s wrong?” he asked.

“No. Well, yes. But it’s not related to what I was asking for, from before. At least, I don’t think.” She sighed, pulling her arm away from him carefully. “I don’t know. Maybe you should knock me out again for a few days.”

“I don’t think that would be wise. Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?”

“It’s doesn’t matter,” she dismissed quickly. “

“I’m your doctor, nothing to you might mean a lot more to me.” Natalia tilted her head. Wanting to talk couldn’t be a sign of anything like that. She had been lonely, she _was_ lonely, and still was. She was afraid that she’d never go home, afraid that all of this was a trick and he would walk out and leave her alone, trapped in this room for the verokins to find. Most of all, she was homesick. She didn’t know how to begin describing that.

“It’s..just that...I just would really like it if you could talk to me or get a radio for me to listen to. I just...I need to hear voices again,” she told him. She looked up, meeting his eyes properly to see if he understood. “Anything will do. I’ll even take watching infomercials on the television.”

“I’ll do you one better,” he grinned, tapping the data-interface. Natalia looked down, confused for a moment before out the corner of her eye, up on the ceiling, two pieces of steel about two and half feet a part, came down. Electricity crackled between them before suddenly, a projection of a television program was cast between “You wouldn’t have them on Earth. There TVPIs, people still just call them TVs though. But...anyway I’ll leave it on cartoons. I know you’re a little old-”

“No. Thank you, it’s perfect,” she whispered. It was bright, bubbly and colourful. It was also mindless and mostly innocent. She’d have taken anything; the news, an over dramatic cop or medical show, even a documentary on how grass grows. But this...this was what she needed.

DeWitt smiled, reaching over somewhere Natalia wasn’t paying attention to. “I’m going to take some blood from you, is that okay?”

“Yes,” she told him. “What is this show?” she asked.

“Some all-girl superhero show. My youngest loves it.”

Natalia turned her head, watching him put on white gloves. “You have children?” she asked him.

“Two. One’s eight, the other’s four. Both girls. Millie likes this shows because it’s _pink_. Cassidy prefers watching the ‘tasumi show’.”

“What’s that?”

DeWitt chuckled, disinfecting her arm before he grabbed the needle, “It’s about a ninja-detective who’s also a model or something,” he said. “Just wait, it’ll probably be on next.”

“Do they live here?” Natalia asked.

“Tasumi?”

Natalia laughed, “No, your daughters.”

“Unfortunately, no. They don’t live on the ship. They live with their mother. I try to talk to them as much as I can. Video. Phone calls. Visits. But its difficult. I take leave when I can get it to see them often, make sure they have the best that I can offer. When I’m older I’ll be able to retire, by then though, they’ll be all grown up.” He sighed, his lips twisting bittersweetly. “I love my job, it’s give me a purpose, however, I also love my family and it’s difficult for them.”

Natalia nodded, not saying anything on the matter as she slowly turned back to watch the show. Her dad had been in the Peacekeepers on Earth. He was transferred back and forth between countries, sometimes even to the Mars colony. But when her mum said she couldn’t do it anymore, spend nights alone without him, wondering where he was and if he’d come home, he gave up his job and moved back home.

He’d been sad for a long time. Depressed. And whenever Natalia asked about his Peacekeeper days, he’d change the topic.

Natalia wondered if being a Union doctor on one of the ships was the same thing. Maybe his wife didn’t speak up about it, maybe she was more supportive than her mother had been. Maybe DeWitt ignored his family’s wishes. It wasn’t her place to question.

DeWitt didn’t talk to her after that. He left the infirmary to run the blood work in the labs, telling her what button to press if there was an emergency. He informed her that the ship’s AI would pick up on her having a fit, not that it was likely to happen, but if anything else happened, or if she sensed something was about to, then she shouldn’t be afraid of pressing the button.

She remained watching the television, curled up on the bed, unable to change the channel and not really wishing to. DeWitt had unhooked everything unnecessary for her and pointed out the toilet cubicle to her and that if she needed it, to again, press the button for assistance to help her walk there safely.

Natalia eyed the room curiously before her eyes went to the data-interface on his desk. She was bored and although DeWitt seemed nice, she still didn’t trust him. Grabbing the pole the IV bag was hanging on, she prepared herself to get out of the bed. Swinging her legs out, she took a breath and stared down at the too-white floor.

Her eyes briefly caught sight of her leg that been graze by the pulse rifle. A thick bandage and gauze had been placed over it, hiding the disfigurement. She knew it wouldn’t be able to hold her weight, she could feel it already. Weak. Somewhat lame. She wasn’t sure if it’d ever properly heal. She should have asked.

Hoisting herself up on her good leg, Natalia clung to the pole and drew in a hissed breath as she slowly placed some pressure onto the damaged leg. The knee gave in, weak under her weight. Clinging to the pole, Natalia glared down. The muscle had weakened completely weakened. How long had she been out?

Unless...did they do something to it so she couldn’t walk, couldn’t run?

Afraid, Natalia felt her heart begin pounding before she clenched her body. It wouldn’t do to panic. Her leg had been damaged, no doubt therapy would be needed to get it back into shape. Pulling herself back up with pole, she took a deep breath adjusted it so the IV was like a crutch to her weakened leg. Carefully, she took another step.

No falling down, no collapsing. Okay, good. She took another. Then another. She kept going, moving forward if only to prove she could. They were small, frustratingly slow steps towards DeWitt’s desk. It was difficult, her leg gave out more than once, but eventually she got to the desk and was able to reach out slowly and grab the data-interface.

Afraid that the AI may have informed a guard or someone of her movement, Natalia glanced back behind her. She couldn’t see anyone through the opaque windows, except the odd flickering shadow of someone walking by. Already an excuse sprung to mind if someone were to walk in and see her holding the data-interface. She wasn’t an earthling. Everything was ‘new and exciting’. Easily she could be excused for many of her acts.

Maybe. If she played her cards right.

Looking down at her hands, she puzzled over the material. Evangeline’s husband had had one, though she’d only touched it once. The data-interface was similar to television, except it was rectangular and its frame was made from some synthetic materials, not steel like she had thought. It was dark and smooth like plastic, but extraordinarily light in her hands.

She flicked the small button in the bottom right hand corner, instantly there was a screen. Natalia laughed, amused as she carefully pressed her finger against it. The surface like touching a light electrical current over water. She could feel it, but it wasn’t solid. The material was sensitively and easily she could push through it. No, it was more like custard, she decided, it was firm on contact, but if she kept her finger in the same place, it slipped through.

Her finger tingled as it passed through the screens electronic field. The blonde hairs on her arm rose over goosebumps before she snatched her hand away, giggling at the sensation. “This is amazing,” she murmured, tapping on the data-interface, through open files until she was pulling up her own file marked: _C//; P: N.A.Shaw_.

A gaping pit filled her stomach as she read the file’s contents. Everything was there, Natalia realised with horror. From what preschool she attended to how her dad and sister died.

She scrolled down before red bold text caught her eye. Her eyes scanned it briefly, disbelievingly before reading it through properly and then re-reading it again to understand what it had meant. Scrolling back through the file, Natalia looked at the hospital she was born at. It _was_ Melbourne, but moments after her birth she was transferred overseas to a research facility.

Confused, feeling panic shake through her limbs, she clicked on the name. A Malaysian facility popped up. Natalia stared horrified, looking through their research. Genetic alteration, mutation, cloning, _human test subjects_. Blinding anger dropped through her as everything all at once seemed to hit her.

It was too much. Too much after everything else.

She dropped the data-interface disgusted and fell back. With nothing to hold her up, her knee collapsed and Natalia fell back, bringing the IV pole down with her as she grasped for it.

Lying on the ground, she looked up as tears slipped down her cheek. Hissing a breath, she wiped the them away with the back of her hand and tried to sit up. Awkwardly, her leg refused to do anything but remain passively weak.

“Fuck you,” she seethed, slapping it. Pain shot through the gauze, biting her nerves, but she didn’t care. Natalia sniffed, tossing her head back to look up at the ceiling. She could do this, she could get up. It was one simple task. Stand. For fuck’s sake, she’d been doing it since she was eight months old. The attempt was futile, however, as every time she tried, the pole would crash down.

The desk wasn’t the right height to get her leg into position and she wasn’t strong enough to try anything acrobatic just yet.

Just as she was about to give up and crawl back to bed to press the button, the door slid open behind her. Natalia turned, terrified that a verokin was about to step through. “Doctor DeWitt? I-” the woman paused at the doorway, holding a cloth over her hand as she looked over at Natalia. “The hell happened here?” she asked, stalking over to look down at Natalia.

“I fell,” Natalia replied shortly, adverting her eyes as she attempted to fix the metal pole.

“Do you need help?”

Natalia struggled briefly, before her shoulders sagged. “Yes.”

“Hey. It’s okay to ask for help sometimes, you know? Your leg is obviously crippling you.” Natalia glared at her.

“I’m fine,” she snapped. The woman rolled her eyes, fixing the IV before holding out her hand. Hesitantly, Natalia stared at it before forcing herself up and grabbing the IV. With her good leg she managed to pull herself up without toppling over again, not noticing the woman had, once more, rolled her eyes and balanced the IV with her booted foot, so it wouldn’t fall down with Natalia again.

“Your the Earthling, aren’t you?” she said before Natalia could move away.

“Yes,” Natalia replied shortly. “Are you one of the...ah...ship people?”

“The word’s crew, and sort of. Hey, I was the one that found your backpack, you should be thankful for that.”

“Wasn’t mine,” Natalia said shortly, “I found it.” Glaring at the ground, she tried to move only for her knee to give out again. The woman grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her up.

“Look, I’m trying to be nice. You’ve gone through a lot of crap and you’re pretty pissed about it. I get it, I’ve gone through hell too. You don’t need to take it out on me, alright?”

“You’ve been through a lot of crap?” Natalia asked, staring at her.

“Yeah, actually, I have.

Standing up straight, Natalia narrowed her eyes to glare coldly at the woman, “So you’ve been picked up and carried off like your a piece of property, marked, dumped into a cave as a tribute, managed to crawl your way out, get saved, betrayed, lived in the woods for fives days, shot, infected and nearly eaten multiple times all by yourself on a world you’ve known nothing about - when, before al that shit happened, the furthest you thought you’ve gone was Brisbane only to find out that your whole life has been lie not five minutes ago!”

The woman’s expression twisted furiously, and Natalia wondered if she was about to slap her as her lips peeled open to snarl, “I’m a solider. I’ve been through hell, I didn’t say it was _your_ hell.” She half carried Natalia to her bed before letting go, dropping her to the bed. “Look, I don’t have time to deal with your personal drama, I get it, okay? At the moment you feel like the whole damn universe doesn’t give a flying shit. You feel like every bad thing that happened has been directed at you and only you. I. Get. It. It hurts, and it’s going to hurt for a while and you’re going to have trouble sleeping. And no matter what anyone says, you are _never_ going to be like who you were before. Now, I don’t have time to deal with you, or stop you from permanently making your leg lame. What I need is to get some stitches in my hand because unlike you, I have to get back to work no matter what I’m dealing with. So where the fuck Doctor DeWitt?”

Natalia tense, ready to lash back before she deflated, dropping her shoulders in defeat. She was pissed at the woman, hated the fact that she was being a bitch and hated her even more for making her feel like a petulant child.

“He’s running some blood work,” she muttered. The woman turned and left for the doors. Natalia felt her face pinch painfully before she muttered a quick, “I’m Sorry!” The woman froze, her head tilting just slightly to look over her shoulder. “it’s not your fault. I didn’t...you didn’t deserve that. I’m sorry for taking it out on you.”

“No, I didn’t,” she said, turning to looking back at Natalia. “But like I said, I get it. You should…” she paused, and Natalia looked up at her getting her first real, good look at the woman. She looked only a few years older than herself with round features and a sharp chin. Thick, wavy, dark hair fell long over her shoulders and far down her back and shadowed over her green eyes. But it was the skin Natalia only noticed now. It was pale in tone, but under the fluorescent white light, she noticed an odd green tinge to it. “DeWitt keeps another data-interface- actually, I’ll get it for you.”

The woman walked back to the desk, ripped open a few drawers before walking over and handing it to her. Natalia blinked, confused at the cool device in grip. “What-?”

“You’ll get curious about something else later, at least this way you won’t damage your leg any further in the process trying to get to his. He won’t notice this one’s missing unless his breaks, and he’s unlikely to suspect you. Just keep it in the pillow and he’ll never find it. You press this button-” she indicated one on the top left hand side, at the back of the black frame, “to make it condense into a single...stick,” she shrugged.

Natalia watched as the data-interface automatically shrunk, the frame seeming to slid into each other until all the was left was the left hand side of the frame. “Thank you,” Natalia whispered.

“No problem,” she shrugged, offering Natalia a half-smile. “I saw the tooth in your bag. I want to hear that story about how you got it, when your up for it.”

“Okay,” Natalia promised.

“Good. See you later then.” As she went through the doorway, the woman looked back and gave her a wink. “You’re alright for an Earthing,” she told her before the door slid shut with a slight _whoosh_ noise. Natalia watched her shadow walk away, fading past the opaque window until she was sure the woman had left.

Looking down at the rod in her hand, Natalia smiled to herself, touching the data-interface and watching as it spread out into the frame and connected seamlessly. Exploring it, she turned it over in hands, looking for where it broke off and slid into the compartments of its self, but the material was smooth, shiny and untouched all over. There was no sign that it ever slid apart. It was fascinating to say the least.

And a little terrifying. Were all ships equipped like this, with not one but _two_ devices?

She sighed, flicking it on and hesitantly going back to her file. She was lucky that there wasn’t password protecting or anything like that. Maybe he wasn’t used to keeping classified information.

As she looked over the information, Natalia found that her anger had seeped away, but she still felt betrayed. Her mother must have known about this, according to the information she’d been moved for a few days, so why hadn’t she ever mention anything? Was she just waiting for the right time, or was it something her mother had assumed she’d go through her whole life and never need to know?

There was a reason why she didn’t tell her. There _had_ to be. Her mother hadn’t always been honest with her. But she’d never skirted around big things before.

At least, Natalia hadn’t thought so.

Looking over the Malaysian lab she’d been moved to post-birth, the sickening feeling in her stomach grew worse. They specialised in genetic mutation and cloning. Was she a clone of someone? No, she was taken _to_ the facility. There’s no documentation of cloning. The report said _altered_ genetics _. Was she_ an attempt to fix the purge that happened over a hundred years ago? They’d been trying for years to fix that, ever since they realised what had happened.

_Could_ she be the solution- no. It couldn’t be that, they wouldn’t have that on record for other worlders to find.

So then, was she something else? Natalia frowned, clicking the data-interface and trying to delve deeper into the file only to have _access denied_ pop up on the screen in big, angry red, capitalised letters. Frustrated, she clicked back to the front screen.

There were little icons she could touch for different things. Mail, internet, and the files that she’d accessed into from before. Mildly, Natalia searched through them, looking for anything interesting before she clicked the _news_ button.

The screen shifted on her lap and a holographic, three-dimensional projection of a person popped out of the screen, in front of her face. Natalia squinted down, rolling the data pad in her hands to get a look at the the man. He was reporting from somewhere. But nothing was behind him like she hoped. Natalia looked anyway, expecting scenery or a backdrop to pop up.

Clicking on the _play_ icon, she watched as the man pulled the microphone up and began speaking as if directing only to her. It was...odd to say the least to see a hologram.

_“Sources state that a Union Military ship the_ Six Riyãl _, was seen passing through the yellow zone towards Verokin territory. When questioned about the_ Six Riyãl’s _mission, Admirial Ibueat stated that been a red flag raised on their distress frequency and a team was set to report. He denied answering further questions_ .”

A red flag on a distress frequency? Had that been _her_?

Of course it had, Natalia cursed. Then felt suddenly guilty. No doubt, the media was swarming the Union for information and someone had to deal with that.

Shaking her head, she forced down the guilt until it was just a tiny ball in her stomach. Who cares if there was backlash for her actions. She was safe and no matter what, she _would_ get home. Get a new job, drop Evangeline all together and just start over.

It was easy to get lost on Earth. Old friends, if she could even call them that, would fade away. Acquaintances would forget her face or just smile as they passed by. She’d get a new job, a career maybe, somewhere fun, or busy where she didn’t have to deal with _thinking_. Maybe a trade? She could learn woodwork, metalwork or something. Fix pipes. There was always need for that.

The hologram disappeared, leaving other videos on the data-interface for Natalia to flick through and play. Some of them contained only headlines and when double clicked, an entire newspaper appeared for her. She could use her finger on the data-interface to zoom in, out and turn pages. It was incredible!

She was enthralled by the first ad the popped up, stating that she could buy thermal socks if she told them her credit number and the address she’d like it to be delivered, that she almost didn’t hear the door open. Quickly, she shut off the data-interface and stuck it in her pillow before DeWitt could notice.

The woman from before was stopping behind him with a scowl on her face. “An _accident_ ,” she repeated. “You don’t need to know the details.”

“This is the third time this month you’ve come in here with the word ‘accident’. Twice I can believe your clumsy. Three times is a little too much, even for me.”

“What can I say, doc? I’m sweet on you.”

DeWitt laughed. “Sit Anders. I’ll get the needle and thread.”

“Stitches,” she gaped. “I mean...I was expecting the M-G you know? A quick squeeze of the paste and a bandage. I didn’t _actually_ expect stitches.”

“It’s _special_ thread,” he teased. “It won’t scar and it’ll disintegrate as your hand heals. But your hand will be sore for a few days. _Hopefully_ ,” he said, stretching the word as he pushed the chair he was sitting on to slide in front of Anders, “you’ll be more careful next time and at least try not to get hurt. What were you doing?”

“I was in the cargo bay, checking my cargo,” she said dryly.

The doctor gave her a look. “ _Your_ cargo?”

“Hey, I’m not a thief and I’m not nosy either so I don’t appreciate that tone.” She snatched her hand away, curling it in a fist before wincing at the pain. DeWitt grabbed it again, muttering under his breath. “I was asked to go down there by Pike.”

“Lieutenant Pike.”

The woman, Anders, brushed through, ignoring the correction. “He wanted me to fix something and I ended up slicing my hand open lifting that _something_ up. That’s all I’m going to disclose with you.”

“It’ll do.” He sighed. “Try to be careful. Wear gloves next time.”

“I would have, had I _known,_ ” she muttered. “Hey, how long’s Red going to crash here?”

“Until we reach the Council.”

“Is she going to need physical therapy?” Anders asked again. “Who am I kidding, of course she is, you had to regrow her muscle, didn’t you?” Natalia’s head snapped up at that. “Don’t worry, had the same done to my arm. Infection, same as you,” she gave another half smile. “Don’t send her to the looney doc down there at the Hub, okay? Give her a good referral. If she goes back to Earth, she’ll go lame without at least someone giving her some of the good, _proper_ , exercises.”

“I’ll try. But she’s not covered like you are with the military. She’s better off with a free clinic. Don’t worry,” he said turning to look at Natalia, “there are some good doctors working there. There’s usually a doctor who’ll rotate bi-monthly between a clinic and the hospital that owns the clinic. Anyway, you’re done Anders.”

“Good to know. I’ll be seeing you soon Doc.” She gave a last look to Natalia before leaving the infirmary again.

“You regrew my muscle?” Natalia asked.

“It was severely damaged. Don’t worry, it’s not risky. We’ll keep you off your leg for a while. When we get to the Council -- or the Hub as it’s also know as -- I’ll give you some crutches and refer you to Elena who will give you some exercises to help strengthen that leg, before she’ll refer you to another doctor at one of the clinics to do check-ups with. Ella helped Anders.” Natalia looked back at the doors where the woman had left from before.

“What’s ‘the Hub’?”

DeWitt looked at her like she was asking if suns were stars, before he broke out in a short chuckle, “Sorry, I completely forget that you’re from the Earth Colony.”

“Is The Hub...like the main station or something?”

“Somewhat. The Hub is where the Council’s located. It’s a giant space station, basically. It has the best Hospital, hotels. Mostly it’s designed for neutral diplomatic territory. It’s got pretty much everything for anyone who has the money too, and an ‘underground’ area for those who don’t. It also contains an emergency area for facilitating refugees if a situation ever arises.”

“A situation?”

“Galactic war,” he shrugged, “who knows, really. It’s just a precaution. The Hub can safely take perhaps sixteen billion people at one time. Usually it only has between twenty-eight million to maybe a billion depending on what’s happening in the galaxy.”

Natalia nodded dumbly, “why didn’t we learn this at school?” she asked softly.

“Earth’s education system’s pretty strictly regulated. You’re a lower class colony. Over seventy-five percent of the population never leaves the planet, and only a tiny proportion ever leave the solar system. The area’s...pretty off limits too. You need to have six documents signed to even get into the area. Landing is pretty much illegal, not that anyone would have much desire to, no offence. You’re..the human control group, to say the least.”

“Control group?”

“Yeah. They need colonies like you of different species. You’re purely human, no other race is mixed in. It’s…” he trailed off. “Necessary that we have pure DNA samples in an area.”

“DNA samples?” Natalia felt her stomach twist uncomfortably at the suggestion. “What-”

“It’s complicated. You’re a control group, that’s all I can really say without having to spend a few hours talking about the history of genetics and finding myself tangled up. I...look, as I said, it’s not just Earth, there are other planets for different species. Most of those planets are under the same circumstances as Earth. You have to understand that I’m generally just a general practitioner, I don’t specialise in genetics or anything like that. At most I do surgeries when required. But overall, I’m _just_ a medical doctor. I fix people.”

Natalia’s chest rose in a heavy breath before she let it out. “Okay.” She eyed him for a while, hoping to tell if he was lying or not, but eventually she turned away and faced the cartoons.

Her life had become too complicated.

She watched as DeWitt busied himself, checked her fluid levels before going off to lunch, promising to bring her back a sandwich and some juice.

As soon as the doors slid shut behind him, Natalia pulled out the data-interface, opening it and flicked it back on. Pulling up the icon for the internet, she searched for ‘the hub’. Thousands of results pulled up before she pressed the holographic image. Instantly, the shipped popped up.

It was burgundy in colour, alight with gold lights. After that, Natalia was at a loss for words. It was...well...it was…

There were no words to describe the shape. It was asymmetrical and yet still aesthetically pleasing. It was like someone had banded a bunch of metal into the prototype from parts they’d melted and smoothed down from their car. There were soft turns, harsh angles and…it did _not_ look like it was flyable in the least.

Until Natalia looked down and read about the design. Each of the parts were mechanically designed to come together in one form. Pressing the button she pulled up the design and blinked at the sight. It was smoother. Less about angles and more about sleek simplicity. It felt like two people had two very different ideas to what they wanted and met halfway with the idea.

What it did was give her, was a headache and she didn’t even know about the mechanics of it, like how it moved and if it could with people in it.

Groaning, she pinched her brow. A lot of work seemed to have gone into the ‘neutral’ territory to be as accommodating to the different species as it could be. It was also designed to withstand a lot and seemed to be made as a sanctuary. There’d been something about a ‘great war’ that had resulted in the building of the sanctuary, but she couldn’t bother going into _that_ much detail.

There was too much she just didn’t know. It was like teaching a baby, genetics.

Natalia pressed the single button, watching as the data-interface return to a single pole before she shoved it back into her pillow. She didn’t care why it was built or what the place looked like, she just cared that the Council would listen, convict Desmond as quickly as possible and then let her go home to Earth.

She wanted a nice, peaceful life where the most strenuous think was delivering the right forums into the right office box or answering a particularly grouchy phone call. She missed those days. Life had been easy, endlessly boring, but easy.

Maybe she’d meet someone nice who didn’t make her feel like she had to prove herself. Someone who smiled more and was softer, gentler than Evangeline. Maybe she’d settle down, move into a small, humble abode, buy dog, have a few kids and live that Earthen dream. She didn’t care. All she knew was that she’d had enough of the stars. Family first, that was her motto now. Dreams were for children and the naive.


	9. Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the Hub, Natalia is sent to the council, but nothing was able to prepare her for what happens.

9.

The Hub was big. _Very_ big. Natalia hadn’t realised just how bit it was until Doctor DeWitt gave her the crutches and helped her to walk down onto the docking pad. She’d almost stumbled at the sheer sight of the amount of ships that were docked. Taxis flew around, taking assorted passengers from one section of the ship to another. It was loud and boisterous. Even just standing still, trying to take it all in, there was a thousand of things happening at once.

“The Lieutenant will take care of you,” DeWitt nodded as a departure before walking away, back to the medical bay she suspected.

“What?” Natalia shouted. “Where do I-?”

“Ah, Red. Shouting in the docking bay is a big no-no,” Anders said, coming up beside her and wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “It’s okay though. I’ll take you and your scrawny self under my wing and teach you the ways of the ‘normal’ people,” she said, making sure to emphasis normal.

“Hey!” Natalia said, shrugging her hand off, “I _am_ completely normal.”

“Suuure you are. How about your hair, is that real?” Anders asked. Pushing for more of a reaction, she reached out, tugging a lock of red before Natalia swatted her hand away.

“ _Yes_ it’s real! Don’t the ‘normal’ people have red hair here?” She asked, her fingers, still on the crutches, motioning to the people around them. She could spot two...no, maybe _three_ people with red hair in the room alone. Granted, none of them were human. One was even seven feet tall and had silky, bright green skin. She brushed past Natalia from her smaller ship docked beside the Six Riyãl, and continued her stride down to the walkway. But only the tips and roots of her hair were red, the rest was a dark brown-purply colour. Natalia blinked, realising that she’d be gawking at her rather rudely.

“It’s uncommon, especially _that_ shade. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it’s genetically altered. Actually…” Before Natalia could move, Anders grabbed the waistband of her pants and tugged it to look inside. “Never seen a true _red_ before, actually,” she murmured, letting go of the pants as she shrugged. “No matter.”

“What- I. Don’t do that!” Tipping in balance, Natalia whole face flushed a bright, clashing red as she simultaneously attempted to adjust her pants and remain standing. It didn’t go so well and unable to prevent it, her balance tipped, casting her on the ground with Anders peering down at her.

“You alright?”

“What did you do that for?” Natalia snapped.

“ _I_ didn’t tip you over. You did that yourself,” she replied, teasing her.

“Not that.” Glaring, she took the outstretched hand offered by the military woman and rose back onto her feet, crutches in grip. “Why did you…” she gestured to her pants.

“Women don’t usually alter the pubic hair. Extra money, more painful, lots of room for mutation, blah blah science ramblings, blah.” Anders tossed her a quick smirk and stepped away from Natalia, turning to walk down the the ramp to the docking bay. Halfway down, she looked back, noticing that Natalia hadn’t moved yet. “You do realise that I’m trying to lead you to where your supposed to go, right?”

“Oh,” Natalia flushed, adjusting her grip on the crutches before she followed. Doctor DeWitt had plastered the knee to keep it in place as well as given her ‘civilian’ clothes, as he called it. It was nice to be in loose fitting, warm clothes. But she still missed her own clothes from home. The new ones felt cool, oddly slippery against her skin. She sometimes had the odd feeling like they weren’t there at all and had to keep looking down to make sure she wasn’t suddenly walking stark naked.

“ _Wow_ your slow,” Anders said, glaring at her. Poised with one hand planted on her hip and the other gesturing vaguely at Natalia’s direction. “My granny walks faster than you and she has a walker.”

“This is the first time I’ve been on crutches, give me a break,” Natalia grumbled at her.

“Nah. You don’t get a break. I bet fifty credits that you’ll go home and end up joining the military one way or another.” Natalia glared at her.

“Earth doesn’t get to join the Union Military, we have peacekeepers. There’s no way I’m joining them.” All of a sudden, Anders went quiet losing the humour in her eyes. Nodding, she slowly walked a few steps in front of Natalia, leading her to the lieutenant. A tall, dark man dressed impeccably.

“Anders,” Lieutenant Pike said in greeting with sharp eyes, “Ms Shaw.” Natalia visibly shuddered at the word _Ms._ It suddenly made her feel old. She wasn’t old. She felt old at that moment, but she wasn’t. She had to keep reminding her self that in less than six months she’d be nineteen.

“Sir,” Anders said. Her body was tight, hands tight by her sight and back straight. Her chin stuck out, eyes not quite meeting her Lieutenant.

“At ease, Anders.” Anders relaxed, her shoulder dropping down lazily as she threw what seemed to be her trademark half smile at the lieutenant. “Just got word from the Commander before you _finally_ decided to arrive. It seems my business is required elsewhere for the evening. I trust you will be able to lead Ms Shaw to and from the Council.”

Anders’ mouth dropped open in horror. “You can’t be serious. I’m not going to cart around some cripple civilian because some higher command is asking for your attention. Get Thane or Williams to deal with her.” As the Lieutenant stared at her, she growled a short, “sir.”

“I’m sorry _soldier,_ that your feelings are hurt because I chose you over Thane and Williams who arrived here _on time_. I’m also sorry that I’m about to get my own ass handed to me by the Commander as he gets his own handed to him by the Admiral because one of you _soldiers_ leaked some sensitive information to the press for a nice sum.” Anders visibly swallowed as the Lieutenant spoke cooly. “Now, you can either march back up to the ship and remain in the bunk for the evening, maybe scrub a few toilets, or you can show this nice lady around, it’s your call.”

“Thane and Williams wouldn’t know how to get to the Council if there was a big neon sign that directed them, sir.” Natalia swore the lieutenant almost laughed at Natalia, and by her very cocky grin, Anders thoughts so too.

“What are you so pleased about?” He asked, narrowing his eyes at the soldier.

“Nothing sir, just remembered a funny joke, sir.” She didn’t stop grinning. The lieutenant side-eyed her briefly before letting a subtle air of noise calling her bullshit. Anders only grinned wider at him. “I’d be glad to share it with you, sir.”

“It won’t be required.” He gave a sharp not to both Anders and then to Natalia. “Try not to lose her, Anders, because I _will_ make your life hell after the commander makes my life hell. I’d hate to have that happen on such a fine day,” he told her dryly.

“Understood, sir.”

As Pike turned sharply and left, Natalia gaped at his back before she tilted her head and faced Anders with her eyes wide open. “Is he...always that intense?” Anders snorted.

“Only when he’s about to get his ass handed to him on a platter. I’d hate to be the soldier who spoke to the press, I’ll tell you that. Whatever they paid for the information, it’s not enough.” Grinning, she slapped her hand on the back of Natalia, almost making her go falling before grabbing the collar of her shirt. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure if I break you, he’ll still make my life hell.”

“I’m not that fragile,” Natalia muttered.

“You’re the _it_ girl. I don’t care what you made of, right now I’m going to treat you like porcelain. Now, come on Red, it’s this way.”

“My name’s Natalia,” she told her, hobbling behind as quickly as she could without slipping and making a fool of herself. “Not ‘Red’. Red is the name of someone with a hood, or a cloak.” No one called her Red back home. She was Nut to her father, Lia to her sister and Nat to everyone else. “Red is a fairytale girl that walks through forests.”

“You walked through a forest didn’t you?”

“I ran,” she replied shortly.

Anders looked back, her face becoming solemn. “Shit sorry. I didn’t... _think_ ,” she said. Anders looked at her apologetically and spitefully. Natalia knew the latter wasn’t directed at her, at least not all of it. She shouldn’t have brought up the word forest.

“It’s fine,” she replied.

“It’s not,” Anders confirmed. “If I were you, I’d deck me one for that comment.”

“It’s _fine,_ ” Natalia pushed. “And I don’t know how to deck you one,” she shrugged.

Anders nodded grimly. “I didn’t either until I joined up. I’ll teach you though, I’m guessing you’ll probably be wanting to learn now anyway.” Natalia didn’t reply. “My name’s Raina, if your curious.” Natalia could almost smile at the name. It sounded too... _pretty_ for her. She was raw, gritty. The type of person who already had loose strands over their eyes, and hard muscles.

“I like Anders. It’s so _solider,”_ she told her. Anders barked a short laugh at her.

“Shaw has a nice ‘solider’ ring to it, too. _Ms_ Shaw on the other hand,” Anders shuddered. “Every time I go home on leave and see my mail or go about civilian duties and whatever, they always call me _Ms_ or _Miss_. Makes me feel weird. Like I’m just another face at the bank and that they’re forced to address or smile at, you know?” She shuddered again, making an awful face.

“You should scratch your crotch, belch or something. _Ms_ sounds to feminine for you anyway.”

“You saying I’m not feminine?” Anders asked, “Because I’ll tell you what, I clean up _good._ I just don’t do it often, and only when…” she continued walking and talking. It was too fast and too much as people pushed passed Natalia on the walkway.

Natalia paused against the wall, out of breath as tried to catch a deep breath into her lungs. “Wait,” she called, “I’m just…” she dropped her shoulders. The deck was covered in people coming and going through the walkway to and from ships. She’d lost Anders before they’d even gotten into a taxi. _Fucking great_ , she thought to herself. _Now what? Go back to the ship, find someone who could take her to the Council and get Anders in trouble? Or just wait here and hope she noticed before it was too late?_

“Just what?” Anders said, popping her head up as she parted a crowd easily and slid against the wall next to Natalia. “Sorry, crowd swarmed before I noticed you were gone. Tried to get back but it’s like swimming against the tide, you just gotta _go_ with it, you know?”

“What?”

“Oh, right. No oceans, or any water on Earth anymore, I forget. It’s a saying, don’t worry about it” She laughed. “So, what were you saying before the people got in my way?”

“I was out of breath. Just trying to grab your attention,” Natalia said to her. “Nothing interesting.”

“You’ll be fine. You just got to push it a little bit. Pushing _a little bit_ , mind you, makes the muscle grow faster. Too much or too less and you’re crippled forever, unless you have the money, which I doubt. Don’t worry though, the taxi’s right up there. A couple more hobbles and you’ll be resting for a clean ten...maybe twenty minutes. We might even have time for a drink if you’re lucky.”

Natalia perked up at the idea of good cold one to grip in her hand. The idea of the cool, glass bottle in grip and taking it to her lips was already wetting her appetite. She could use something to take the edge off before she went in to the Council.

“I _knew_ that’d get your attention,” Anders laughed. “You’re so predictable.”

“I am not,” Natalia snapped.

“Oh right. Sorry, yes. You are a special, unique snowflake, just like everybody else.” Natalia glared at her. “Hey, don’t look at me like that, you know it’s true. We _are_ technically all unique. It’s what makes us all so _common_. ‘Special’ and ‘unique’ are just words we use to describe people and objects that contain something we want. They’re prettier, or more intellectual, maybe they’re really good with money, whatever. Unique is an illusion. Today is unique to yesterday. Every breath we draw in particles that are different from the last, but hey, you don’t see people calling that special.”

“Stop making sense, you’re making my head hurt,” Natalia said to her.

“Just trying to get the philosophy out of me for the day,” Anders grumbled. “I’m not usually philosophical until I’ve had one of those jar-jar shots off a pretty sillirian girl’s stomach.” The conversation perked up from there as Natalia questioned what a ‘jar-jar’ shot was and when could she try one if they made people do strange things like get into philosophic debates with lamps.

Within moments, they were inside a taxi and Anders had directed the driver to head towards the the ‘justice circuit’. Natalia stared as the driver placed the hover car into gear and lifted off. Eyes wide, she gaped out the window.

“Shut your mouth Red, you look like a tourist.”

Natalia looked back at Anders long enough to scowl, before her eyes followed the levels of the building. She saw glimpses of a club, a pool, fake atmosphere to look like the sky. There was a garden, hotel rooms. “How do you _drive_ this? It’s crazy.”

“The car has a shield ma’am. Unless I slam right into a building as full speed, which is unlikely, you won’t feel most things that happen.

“Taxi drivers have to train, don’t they Rick?” Anders said.

“Not Rick. Filling in for him. The name’s Salem, and yeah, we have to train to drive the route. It’s a two year course, but it pays damn better than most planets. Plus my family gets to enjoy most of the perks as I work here.” He grinned at the rearview mirror.

“Keep your eyes to your window,” Anders whispered to Natalia as she went to lead around to look out the front window. “You don’t want to see what happens.”

“Why-?” Natalia almost shouted as car swerved to hit a building. Dizzily, she turned and looked back out the window. “Is there’s like some sort of gravity thing in the car that makes us feel like we’re just going straight.”

“Yeah, something like that,” Anders shrugged as she looked back out the window. “Oh, they re-opened Pandemonium. We have to visit after your meeting, Red. It has this one drink that mades from the-” she paused, cutting herself off, “I think its best that you don’t know what it is,” she said quietly. “You’ll like it, I promise though.”

“After the Council,” Natalia agreed. “Do they have...beer?”

Anders snorted at her. “No matter when you go in the galaxy they always have vodka and beer, it may go by other names, but it’s always there. Trust me.” She patted Natalia’s knee and pointed. “Almost there. Taxi will land us, you’ll tell your story and as long as you keep it brief, we’ll be out of here drinking it up in no time.”

Natalia grinned. “Stories and brief aren’t usually used to describe what I do,” she said with a soft laugh.

Anders turned and looked at her horrified, “don’t tell me you’re a bard!”

Natalia blinked, “bard? What? No. That’s an...old term. I don’t think that’s been used in more than a few centuries.”

“Sorry. A _story-teller_. And you so are, no one else is so _pedantic_ about words.”

Natalia rolled her eyes, “You’re making that up. I am _not_ a bard. I just...get carried away.”

“There are two types of writers I know,” Salem said from the front seat, “the kind that keep to themselves in a tiny little room and write for hours on ends, and the kind that live it up, travel all over the galaxy before finally writing down their adventures. Trust me, I’ve driven both kinds around.”

Natalia scowled. “I’m neither. I worked two jobs and only…” she trailed off, shutting her mouth instantly as she realised she was about to talk about Evangeline.

“Only what?” Anders asked curiously, noting the way she shut-up quickly.

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

Anders snorted. “I’m sure you were a very hard worker. I think you’re the second kind, the type that lived it up and travelled, or at least wanted to. You didn’t have the money, and I’d bet my life that you weren’t interested in the drugs, but someway you got your thrills.”

“How do you know I wasn’t into drugs?” Natalia asked, strangely feeling offended for the first time. It was the way Anders had said it, as though Natalia would _never_ touch drugs.

“I can see it all over your face. Besides, you _have_ travelled across the galaxy now,” she grinned. “In a big military space ship of all things. I’d say you’re well on your way to becoming that type of writer.” She winked as the car landed. Pulling off the seatbelt, she climbed out of the taxi and smiled at the cab driver, handing him a slip. “Bill the Military.”

“Yes Ma’am, and thank you for the nice tip.”

Natalia climbed out, pulling the crutches with her awkwardly before she stood up and shut the door. They were on the landing pad of the building with a fake, somewhat cloudy atmosphere. It even had birds. Natalia watched as a taxi beside them, lifted up and off the landing pad area, pushing through a blue shimmer as it did.

“What’s that?” she asked, pointing to the clear area that looked out to the other side of the hub.

Anders turned and looked where she was pointing, “you have to stop asking questions,” she hissed. “This is common knowledge for most people, _especially_ humans. You’ll draw attention to yourself and we can’t have that yet.” Natalia flinched at her words. “Sorry, but...you have to be quiet. And that’s to stop you from floating into space. The taxi’s are made for short-term space travel before you ask. They’re actually shuttles, but whatever.”

“Oh,” she whispered, fascinated as she watched another taxi pushed through. “We’re so behind in technology back home.”

Anders almost smiled at the comment, “Yeah, you are. It’s kind of endearing actually.”

“Endearing?” Natalia echoed. “You think it’s _endearing_?”

“Yeah,” she shrugged. “I mean, what do you have?”

“Clogged up hospitals that people can’t afford. Not enough food for us. One in every _twenty_ maybe less couples that can have their own kids.” Natalia felt herself getting heated up, “If I was back home they would have lasered my leg off. I’d have died of infection, and my mother relies on me. She can’t look after herself, she has mental health problems that makes her struggle to get groceries, it’s a _blessing_ when she tells me that she had a nice chat with the lady down the road because ever since my dad and sister died I’ve had to look after her, and you know what? I was an ungrateful bitch.”

“Natalia, I’m sorry-”

“I got the easiest jobs I could get with the least amount of work. I do the fucking barest of all minimum around the house. I coast my grades, I didn’t give a flying _fuck_ what happened. All I wanted to do was slide into Evangeline’s bed when her husband wasn’t home and pretend she’d whisk me away. I didn’t care about my mother, I thought she was nothing but a drunk and I resented her for not stopping me that day.” The words were coming out like word-vomit, all she could picture was her mum slurring her words, Evangeline’s face as she was torn away from her.

“Natalia!” Anders shouted, grabbing her shoulders, “Cool it. You’re making a scene.”

Natalia’s eyes welled up, not caring about the people around her. “I blamed my mum for letting me do what I wanted instead of what my dad wanted me to do. She...I could have been there. I could have stopped it if I was there. I could have slowed them down. Maybe my dad and I would have a row and he’d get out the car and it wouldn’t have happened. I don’t know. But I know I-I could have..I could have stopped it from ha-happening,” she sobbed.

“Oh, Red, no. No, shit don’t cry. Crap,” she cursed, stepping closer with her hands not knowing what to do. “Come on, you couldn’t have stopped him dying. Shit happens and sometimes the best you can do is keep moving forward.” Natalia felt her legs shake, the crutches wobble as she cried. Raina grabbed her just as a crutch slipped, holding her as Natalia sobbed. “You know what happened to me?” she whispered, “You can hit me if you think I’m trying to cheapen what you said, just so you know. But five years ago my mum calls me. My dad was deadbeat, knocked mum up and left her just as quick when he found out.”

People around them vaguely watched and moved away, losing interest in the scene.

“You see, me and her don’t have too good a relationship ever since I joined the ranks and became a soldier. She was against war and violence. Kind of ironic when I think about her and her boyfriends. Anyway, my mum rings me up and she wants to see me. Three months previous we’d had this big row. She’d gotten back with my dad and I hated his guts, refused to see him. But she was on the phone with me and she wanted to see me, said was there a place, anywhere? Dad had left her again and she wanted to talk. As soon as she said dad had left her again I...I got _so_ angry and I shouted at her, and as soon as she begun crying, because she always cried when I yelled at her, I hung up. I had a really bad day, I’m not excusing myself, believe me, it was just...any other day and I might have apologised.”

Natalia had stopped crying, listening to Raina to her story as the soldier slowly carried them both over to a chair not far away, and sat them down. “What happened?” Natalia asked.

“I get a letter two weeks later. Not someone in person, or a phone call, or anything like that, but a letter. It was just a cheque. At the time I thought I was lucky and had been a millionth customer or there’d been some mistake. It wasn’t until I rang up about the cheque that I found out that it was all my mum had left. They said she’d died, that the doctors had given her three months max because of some… _brain_ thing a few weeks ago. A tumour or an aneurism or something. But I knew that _that_ was what my mum had called. She wanted to say good bye and the last thing I’d done was _yelled_ at her. There wasn’t anything I could have done, I mean, I thought over and over the time mum had said she had headache and that _maybe_ I should have made her go to the doctor, but no. I never hated myself as much as I did then when my mum...I swore I’d never yell at people again,” she smiled bitterly, looking up at the atmosphere, “but that didn’t even last twelve hours. I’m usually a embarrass-myself-by-getting-naked drunk or dancing on top of bars, or both.”

Natalia felt herself breathe easy for the first time. She felt more relaxed than she’d been in a while. “Can we skip to the drinks?” she asked.

“Nah, Pike would have us both scrubbing the toilets if we did that. Probably airlock me and lock you up. But I’ll tell you what, I’ll buy the drinks, or get someone to buy for us. I bet you could get a few sympathy drinks with those crutches,” she said, nodding to the crutches that’d they left back over on the landing pad. “Come on, I’ll go get them, then we’ll get this done and over with. _Try_ not to turn it into a great, terrible greek tragedy or whatever you bards do.”

“I’m not a bard.”

“Yeah you are, it’s in your blood.” Natalia pulled away, letting Anders walk over and pick up the plastic crutches before handing them back to her and letting her get up on her own. “Well, at least you should feel a little better. Venting al that out.”

“Yeah...thank you. It-”

“Don’t say any more,” Anders said with a half smile, holding up her hands. “You can do all your talking in there. I get it. You don’t seem to believe me, but I get it.”

Natalia almost giggled, if the laughter didn’t die in her throat with shock as they entered through the door.

“You really need to stop gaping,” Anders shook her head.

“Has _everyone_ seen this?” she said, looking up at the ceiling. It was tall, and her words seemed to echo around her like she was in a cathedral. The ceiling appeared opened to space, and not in the way that looking out of glass was like, no, the ceiling actually looked like the _galaxy_ was _inside_ the room.

“Yes, in tv spots. _Stop gaping._ ”

“It’s quite all right,” someone’s voice popped in. Natalia almost fell backwards again as she stared at a tall, thin alien. It’s skin was milky-brown and leathery. Two large -- at least the size of her hands -- completely black eyed stared at her her curiously from the alien’s heart-shaped face. “Natalia Del Shaw? The Council is this way,” she said, directing through a side door. Natalia’s eyes swept over the red and gold robes before she looked to Anders.

“I don’t know, I’ve never been here before. She’s dressed in the official clothes though,” Anders shrugged. “Can’t be that easy to get official clothes and lead you astray.”

“Stop it,” Natalia glared, “You’ll make me paranoid.”

“You should be,” Anders said seriously, “who knows what’s going to happen down there.”

Natalia frowned before taking a step through the doorway. The corridor was long, completely dark except for the light that was far away. In the distance she could see a room that looked to have rows a seats spectating down to the centre of the room. Turning she went to make sure Anders followed. The alien woman stopped her path.

“You should be,” Anders said seriously, “who knows what’s going to happen down there. She could lead you to the Underground where you’ll be hired off as a merc.”

“I doubt that,” Natalia frowned before taking a step through the doorway. The corridor was long, completely dark except for the light that was far away. In the distance, where the light was coming from, she could see a room that looked to have rows of seats spectating down to the centre of the room. Turning she went to make sure Anders followed. The alien woman stopped her path.

“What-- I...Lieutenant Pike sent me to look after her!” Anders said stubbornly.

“I’m sorry, but you’re not permitted to enter the premise.” Natalia stared, horrified at the woman.

“Don’t worry Red, I...guess I’ll just…” she sighed, her shoulders going slack, “wait here for you. Don’t take long,” she told her pointedly, “I’ll look weird standing here all alone, it draws sleazy guys’ attention and I don’t want to break any wrists.”

“You’re a terrible liar,” Natalia told her.

“Nah, even I can’t lie about how much I wouldn’t mind breaking a sleazy wrist or two.” The door slid shut, leaving Natalia in darkness. She could hear muffled sounds from behind the thick door, but couldn’t make out the words.

Taking a breath, she turned back to face down the long corridor and began the hobble to her destination. The walk was louder than the cathedral, and too quiet. She could heart her heart pounding faster with each step, in her ears.

Ahead of her, Natalia eyed the room, expecting it to be empty by how quiet it was, but as soon as she came out of the corridor, she found herself pressing through a barrier, similar to the one she’d seen outside on the landing pad. Everything became brighter and louder as if the light and discussed chatter only started when she entered the room.

Blinking furiously at the sudden intensity of the light, Natalia raised her arm to block, trying to hold onto the crutches the best she could. She was jolted suddenly, pushed into the bannister as she rose higher and higher still.

Only after it stopped did she see everyone and notice how quiet it became at her new found presence. Not every seat was occupied, but there was a semi circle of clustered people below a large window. Looking at it, she could see the Window looking out to a false atmosphere. In the semi-circle, Natalia _assumed_ were the Councillors, she saw the five people situated in a line behind a grande looking, wooden table in the centre of the room before her.

They were a few feet below her, situated so everyone could see them, including herself. Natalia seemed to be placed so everyone could see her without having to crane their necks. Possible also because it made it impossible for her to jump and run.

She got a bad feeling, too that as the barrier flicked from looking clear to looking like disturbed water that’d been tinted red, that she would get a nasty surprise if she tried to push through it again, back into the hallway.

“Now that the accused has arrived, shall we begin?” Natalia’s stomach dropped at the sentence, spoken by the centre, scaled green alien, from the table. The Alien had rose to look around at the people, speaking loudly. _Accused_ , she was the _accused_? Wasn’t she supposed to be re-telling her story?

“Objection. Shouldn’t Admiral Foerns be here?”

“Dismissed. Foerns is currently dealing with the _leak_ about this girl here,” the centre alien stated. “As is the lieutenant.”

Natalia began shivering, unable to stop. She was alone. Absolutely alone, standing by herself in a foreign area. She didn’t have a lawyer or anyone present to represent her. Her breath quickened in a near-panic as people shouted around her. She couldn’t do this, she didn’t even know what she was supposed to do! She thought she would sit down in front of a panel of people in a small, maybe largely windowed room that was well decorated, be offered water and asked to tell her story.

She did _not_ expect _this_.

“Stop it, all of you. The girl’s having a panic attack!” Someone rose, Natalia looked at the person. They rose from the cluster of people. A human, just like her. There seemed to be few humans amongst the council, but he was middle-aged, dark skinned man. Natalia noted the receding grey hairline, but he was too far away to notice anything else. “She’s a girl, she’s young and foreign and knows _nothing_ about what’s happening. No one has told her what’s happening. Everyone was told to keep things classified and to disclose with _no one_ about what was happening today so they couldn’t prepare her. Now look at her, she’s shaking.”

The Council murmured, in disagreement with one another. She could hear some saying that _that_ was a ploy, that she’d be prompted to do that, while others agreed that she looked pale, terrified and had _real_ panic.

She even caught a snipped of conversation as someone said they could smell her fear.

“Child,” an elderly woman’s voice called. Natalia looked down. The woman was tall, elegant and finely but simply dressed. Parts of her skin seemed to shimmer in the light. “Don’t be afraid. We’re hear to make a judgement.”

“Judgement of w-what?” she asked, cursing the hesitation in her voice.

“Of your credibility. It’s believed that you were used on the planet, as a means to end the truce we have with both the samarians and the verokins.”

Her stomach felt like it was being filled with molten lead as it dropped and bloated uncomfortably with pain. “W-what…” she cleared her throat, hating how her voice bounced back at her, “what happens if I’m found guilt?”

“You’ll be executed,” the woman told her.


	10. Dumbstruck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The entire thing was a damn circus

10.

“Describe the creature again?” a councillor asked from the table’s far right. Natalia looked down at them, her hands shaking. The alien had three eyes and appeared _ancient_. She wasn’t even sure if she really wanted to know what the creature’s age was. Maybe it _was_ ancient.

“Which one?” Natalia asked.

“The one you described as…” the councillor flicked through her notes on the data-interface in front of her, before pausing, “‘bear-like’, if you will.”

“Oh. Ah, it was like a bear-”

“We require more information. There are many alien creatures that appear ‘like a bear’, as you put it, within this galaxy, Ms Shaw.” Natalia flushed at the woman, moving her good leg awkwardly as she adjusted her stance. Natalia hated being under the scrutiny of these people, she hated even more that she was fighting for her life again. Dammit, she deserved better than this!

Didn’t she?

“This is getting ridiculous,” she said under her breath, almost sure that no one could hear her speak. The image of it crawling up the tree and her fumbling backwards felt burned into her mind, just like everything else that happened on the planet. If she shut her eyes too long, she felt it come back, her body pulling into the memory and snapping her there.

“We’re waiting Ms Shaw.”

She gasped, eyes opening. She could feel herself glare, frustrated with the alien’s tone. “It was longer than a bear, it had two legs, since it could stand up. Um, two sets of arms-”

“Two sets of arms, or two arms?” Someone asked from the back of the room, in the middle of the cluster. Natalia spotted two white, short horns on their absolute black body. She hadn’t even seen them until they rose to look at her. Natalia gritted her teeth.

“Two _sets_ , she clarified. There were four arms, two were used to climb and two were used to claw at me. The clawing was slow. Not the movement, that was fast, but the...the breaks in between each claw gave me time to move backwards.”

“And you said you had a... _flare gun_ that you shot it into its mouth?”

“I was a bad shot, but the weight of the...ah bear, must have broke the branch and made it a lucky shot,” she told them. “The bear blew up.”

“Do you have any proof of this?” Natalia’s shoulders fell. The story sounded fabricated, even to her ears. Shutting her eyes she tried to think, the image of her picking up the meat and- “Yes! There was a tooth, I picked up a tooth and put it in the bag.” God she hoped she’d been able to keep it. “It’s...it’s on the ship.” She didn’t even know where it was, “Anders got it, ah...Raina Anders said she picked the bag up when I was taken to the ship.

One of the Council members, similar to the alien Natalia met outside the corridor, rose and quietly left through a door nearby.

“Councilor Hyundah is contacting the ship for your bag. If the tooth is found, it will go to testing to prove its authenticity.” Natalia nodded at the centre councillor from the lead table, warmth spreading through her stomach. She had hope!

“At the beginning of your story, you mentioned having an affair. Will Mrs Swforza be able to confirm your story?” a different council member asked, masculine and humanoid. Natalia paled suddenly. Evangeline had always told her that she would never be able to prove their relationship, no matter what. _But surely_ , she thought, _surely if she loves me as much as she says she does, then…_

 

“Ms Shaw?”

“I-I don’t know. With her reputation and pride on the line...I…she _might_ ,” Natalia said, looking down at them hopefully. “I mean, she…” Natalia trailed off, her cheeks heating up as she stared down at the council.

“It’s possible that the Swforza’s are in-line with each other. We’ve had cases before of young persons getting manipulated by an older, married lover before,” another Councillor spoke up. “Sexual manipulation in youth is sociopathic behaviour and from what we’ve heard, Ms Swforza is a prime case. She’s able to keep a string of lovers without her husband knowing.”

“At least we _believe_ he didn’t know. Evidence could arise that both were manipulating Ms Shaw. It might not be singular sociopathic behaviour but perhaps a perverse sexual fantasy for them.”

“No!” Natalia shouted, cutting in sharply as nausea rolled through her stomach. “No, Eve...she didn’t manipulate me. She wasn’t..her husband didn’t know. She hated him! And She...she looked after me, she helped me with-with everything! My writing. And when I was upset she was always there-”

“Did she use her own computer?” Natalia blinked at the councillor. “Or did she use the hotel’s VI you had said on occasion you took to using?”

“Sometimes.”

“It’s possible that if any edits were made to a piece of Ms Shaw’s writing, her ‘virtual fingerprint’ might remain on the piece.” Natalia felt hope spring at the words said by a male Councillor.

“It’s also possible, being that Mrs Swforza _is_ an editor, that she did some editing on Ms Shaw’s supposed writing, as part of her job,” a human female spoke up. “It proves nothing about this supposed relationship she spoke of. Furthermore, I would like to point out that Mr Swforza is a very important man on Earth, holding over forty-eight percent of all recourses for the planet. Framing him would work well for all competing companies.”

“What about the motel room? If people saw both parties entering the room, _or_ if there were cameras, it could easily prove Ms Shaw’s story.” The central council spoke up. Loudly, an inaudible chatter broke out, many were for the central councillor but just as many seemed against.

Shit, Natalia realised, this was getting them nowhere. She was getting been lead in circles. Leaning back she looked for a chair. She’d already looked before when her leg had first become tired, but again she looked incase one had appeared. There was nothing but the small empty space and the barrier blocking her exit to the corridor.

“Order,” one of the lead councillor’s demanded with a loud, strong voice. Instantly the room went quiet. “A short recess will be called for five minutes. When the council returns, judgement of Ms Natalia Del Shaw’s credibility will be decided.” The councillor sat down and immediately a small bell was rung shortly.

A shield shut up around the bannisters and Natalia blinked, falling back. It was tall and made it impossible to see what the Council was doing. She couldn’t even hear them. Groaning she leaned back against the wall and sighed. This was ridiculous. All she wanted to do was tell her story and go home, not have this entire… _circus_.

She was innocent, wasn’t she? A _good_ person who just got fucked over. It was unbelievable. If anything should be happening, it should be compensation for the trauma she dealt with! Not that she would ask for anything. She just wanted to go home, the medical treatment was enough.

Natalia sighed and looked up at the ceiling. It wasn’t very interesting. Just a white ceiling that sloped to at least two concave points that she could see.

The thought of how they could rid of dust build up and other things, puzzled her until she heard the distinct _snap_ of the shields going down. Had it been fifteen minutes already? She wondered, looking down. No. If the disgruntled looks of many of the councillor members meant anything, it had not been fifteen minutes.

“Admiral Foerns,” one of the lead councillor's introduced to the entire court. Her voice was schooled and Natalia watched with interest again as her body shimmered like she had satin scales on her skin. It was entrancing.

“I was informed that I was summoned here an _hour_ after this begun,” Admiral Foerns said. Natalia almost snickered at the way he treated the Council like school kids who’d misbehaved. “I was told that this was supposed to be a _fair_ meeting in which Ms Shaw would recite her tale and the truth of the story would be discussed amongst _fair_ Council members. She was not going to be _executed_ if her story didn’t have enough merit, but instead sent home. Am I to believe that we now execute children?”

“Objection. Ms Shaw is of age. She is no longer, in conventional terms, classified as a ‘child’.”

“Many of you have children and grandchildren that age, do you not classify her as a child in your minds.”

“Irrelevant. In legal terms-”

“In scientific terms her brain is still developing,” Foerns interrupted. “Now, we can mutter on about terms and wether or not she is a child, the fact remains that this is an unfair tribunal. Ms Shaw has been placed in my care. She has given you all the information required. I expect you to have decided within three days if the information she’s given, is enough. This has gone on long enough.”

More than half shifted in their seats, uncomfortable with been told what to do by the military. “This is acceptable,” one of the lead councillors spoke. “Natalia Shaw is placed into the care of Admiral Foerns. If any harm comes to her within the care, the Admiral and anyone else in the position of looking after her, will be stripped of their titles.” There was a loud noise that echoed, sealing the decision. Natalia blinked as the council rose from their seats and left.

She furrowed at the decision, watching as people murmured uncomfortably. That command wasn’t there for her protection, it was there as a retaliation to being disrespected. _Damn_ , they really weren’t going to like her now.

Turning around, she looked at the shield behind her. It too, had fallen, allowing her passage to leave.

Stiffly, Natalia hobbled down the hallway door with her crutches, opening the door at the end. Council members shuffled past, barely noticing her as they moved to and from the halls to other rooms or to the landing pad to leave for elsewhere.

Natalia stood lost. Looking around for a familiar face.

“There you are!” Anders shouted over a crowd, pushing through them. She ignored the disgruntled noises and the occasional _‘excuse you!’_ before she arrived at Natalia. Throwing her a half smile, Anders patted her shoulder. “How’d it go?”

“Terrible,” she said, “they said if they didn’t believe me I was going to get executed.” Anders paled, “I told them my story, they asked a lot of questions and then the admiral arrived and...and I think I’m in his care?”

Anders gave out a short barking laugh, “No it means your in the military care. You’ll probably be placed on the ship for a few days until they ‘work out’ if your ‘credible’.” She grinned. “Which means we can drink it up for a while, as long as I don’t get you hurt.” Her eyes flashed devilishly before she breathed out a short breath and wrapped her arm around Natalia’s shoulders, “after this you’ll probably be home-free.”

“Is there a way I could contact my mum?” Natalia asked her.

“What? Oh, sure. Yeah there are vidcoms every where. We’ll find one and get a bite to eat. Wow, you’re _shaking_ ,” she laughed. “Was it that scary?”

“They just... _looked_ at me as if I was an animal, and they kept treating me like I was kid.”

“Yeah, the Council’s intense. More-so than the military,” Anders shrugged her shoulders, “don’t worry about it though, it’s over for a few days.”

“Unfortunately not,” a voice said behind them. Natalia jumped, almost toppling over. Anders slowly turned around and saluted. “At ease soldier,” Admiral Foerns said to her.

“Sir.”

“As…” he looked as Anders.

“Raina Anders, sir.”

“As Ms Anders said, Ms Shaw, you’ll be in the military care. I do believe _she_ and the others upon the Six Riyãl will be taking care of you. Though even after then, I’m afraid, you may not see home for a few months after. Only military ships can pass through that section and there’s a lot of red tape behind that. You may find yourself become a refugee here instead.”

“What-”

“Understand that I do not mean to be cruel but for you to be prepared for the worst. The Council does not like to be told what to do. I unfortunately, may have made the situation worse for you. Take care.” He gave a short nod before leaving them. Natalia’s mouth remained agape, horrified about what she’d been told.

“I might not go home?” she whispered. “But…”

“Come on, I’ll find you a vidcom and then we’ll get that drink. Maybe even go to the hospital and see a physiotherapist for a pro-bono, hmm? I need a check-up on my arm anyway,” she shrugged, brushing past the event. Natalia’s nodded dumbly, too shocked to actually speak. “You know, I bet if we get there at happy hour, we can get triple shots. That’ll take the shakes off.”

“But...my home.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s absolute bullshit.” Natalia’s shoulders sagged. She didn’t know what to do, where she was supposed to go to file a complaint or what the exact protocols in the situation were for something like that.

“But I’m not a refugee,” Natalia stated. “I was _taken_ from my planet.”

“Look Red,” Anders said, turning around with a hand on her cocked hip, “I don’t know what you want me to say, okay? It’s bullshit what they’re doing to you. You’ve been through enough, I know. But I can’t just sit and listen to you mope, it drags me down and I can’t deal with that, okay?” Natalia’s eyes fluttered for a moment at Anders before she dumbly not. “Good.”

“Sorry-”

“Nghh!” Anders shouted, “Don’t _say_ that. Don’t say you’re sorry. You shouldn’t _be_ sorry and you’ve got nothing to be sorry about. You’re upset. Emotions and whatnot, whatever. That’s your shit. Look. Let’s just…get out of here. The Council area sets me on edge.” She pushed Natalia to the taxi and quickly forced her inside, stuffing the crutches in before she climbed in next to her.

“Military?” the guy said from the front.

“I am, she’s a civilian,” Anders said without glancing up at him. “We want to go to Pandemonium. Can you get us there?”

The driver chuckled, “I can get you on that level. Getting into the club is another situation entirely.”

“I’m not asking you to get us inside the club. That’ll get you arrested,” she grinned sharply. “Just get us on the level.” Natalia turned and watched as Anders pressed on the thin, tight silver band on her wrist. Instantly a data projection appeared, cloaking her entire arm. Natalia stared before reaching out and touching the silver light, only to find that like data-interface, it was solid.

“You’ll slice your finger off if you’re not careful,” Anders told her blankly as she typed something onto the projection. “It’s military standard implant. Scans, communicates others on a frequency and does a whole bunch of other cool stuff.”

“Implant?” Natalia frowned. “Isn’t it the band?”

“Huh? Nah. That just hides the bump.” She squeezed the band, making it click off to show Natalia the thin, barely-there bump before placing it back on. “Sort of like how some people have a watch I guess. Some rich people have implants, but there’s no point. It doesn’t really _do_ anything except manage money and maybe communicate with someone else.” She shrugged. “It’s illegal for civilians to have the military standard, they’d end up chopping off their own arm with the wrong move.”

“So it’s like a swiss-army knife?”

“That’s the idea of it.” Natalia blinked as Anders got out of the car, she hadn’t even noticed they’d arrived. Following, she watched as people walked past, dressed in elaborate clothes, made to move visually. “I feel over and under dressed at the same time,” Natalia told Anders.

“Ignore them. They’ll have to wait hours to get in,” she muttered, pulling Natalia away from the cars landing before she spun her around to look into her eyes. “Can you cry on cue?” she asked.

“What?”

“Cry on cue. Can you do it?”

“No?” Anders pinched her arm as tight as she could. “ _Oww_ , what the-”

“I need you to look like you’ve been crying. Really crying,” she muttered before grabbing her shoulders and shaking her hard. Natalia felt it happen then, the tears. “Good. Sorry, I’ll make it up to you later,” she said as she lead her up the stairs to where bass was thrumming the walls. They hadn’t even entered the club and Natalia could feel the music coursing through her.

Suddenly she cursed her damn leg. She wanted to dance. Wanted to _feel_ the music insider of her as she just let go. _Anders better get me something good_ , she thought before eyeing the extremely long line they seemed to be walking past. _If she can even get us inside._

“Stop.” A large verokin said. Natalia almost fell back. Her eyes burning as she looked at him. She couldn’t breathe, her hand clenched at her side as she began hyperventilating.

“Cool it,” Anders hissed her ear before turning to the verokin, “I only met this girl the other day,” Anders told him, “and she’s looking for her doctor. Someone mentioned that he might be in here. She really needs her pain meds but without a prescription she can’t get it.” It was the worst story in the history of stories that Natalia had ever heard.

But she couldn’t stop staring at the verokin. Terrified, unable to speak. The sheer prescience of him felt like her lungs were being crushed in his grip.

“Look, she’s about to fall over in pain.” The verokin looked to his parter, muttering shortly, before he nodded.

“You can go in,” he said, stepping away. Behind her, she could hear the crowded line complaining about them jumping the queue. Natalia turned to Anders, demanding that she never do that to her again. She didn’t think she could face another verokin, she didn’t want to ever face another one again. Breathing in a cool breath, she squeezed her eyes shut only to be pulled and snapped to her left.

“What the-”

“Red, meet some of the crew. Thane, Williams, Nico and Rivera. I’ve been with them since our first barracks,” she grinned. “Gregory Thane and Samuel Williams can’t remember their own names, let alone their away around a ship, so stay away from them,” she said, chucking them a half smile, “Nico will probably charm your pants off with his oh-so-dashing smile and my girl Kelly can probably fix anything that’s been broken. Guys, meet ‘ _Ms Shaw_ ’,” she said mocking the Councilor’s voice.

“Natalia will do.”

Anders threw an arm around her shoulder, pressing a kiss to her cheek, much to Natalia surprise. “Sit, first rounds on me. After that Thane owns me one after I kicked his ass at basketball,” she said, forcing Natalia to sit down next to Kelly before going to grab a jug of whatever was on tap. “Then it’s Kelly’s round!”

“So Shaw, how’d you make friends with Anders so quick? She usually eats new people and spits them out before they get a chance to shake her hand,” Thane asked, leaning forward.

“I didn’t try shaking her hand,” Natalia replied, smiling as they laughed. “I ah...tried to hack into a data-interface to read my file. I hadn’t been aware that my leg was regrowing a muscle and ended up on the floor with my IV pinning me down. She picked me up, called me some names and gave me a different DI to play with so I wouldn’t get caught.” She shrugged. “Nothing interesting.”

“You’re re-growing your muscle? No wonder she likes you,” Kelly scoffed, taking a swig of the beer. “Don’t worry, she’ll take you under her wing now. You’re cute and vulnerable, she’s going to go _all_ big sister on you and teach you the ropes of being a soldier.”

“Yeah, if the Lieutenant doesn’t have her ass first. She tried to break into the cargo bay and find out what ‘special package’ we’re transporting. Said she didn’t like how hush-hush they were trying to keep it,” Williams informed them.

“She tried to break into the cargo bay?” Kelly snorted, “she’s an idiot.”

“She did break into the cargo bay,” Natalia whispered, “didn’t she? Isn’t that how she sliced her hand open?”

“She sliced her hand open?” Thane asked, “No shit. No wonder she’s been pissed the last few days, I thought Nico stole her clothes again or something.”

“I’ve only done it once,” Nico said shrugging, “I don’t need another broken nose.”

“Pissed? Isn’t she...kinda happy...carefree?” Natalia asked looking around. The group barked a laugh at her.

“Sweetie, no one ever uses ‘happy’ or ‘carefree’ when it comes to Anders. Nah, she’s planning something,” Kelly said before turning back to the others, “you don’t think she’s the one to leak to the media do you?” Natalia turned, looking back to where Anders was, leaning half over the bar as the bar tender became distracted talking to someone.

“No, she’s not the type. She hates the media as much as the rest of us. Besides, I think Jenkins is the one who released the info anyway. He’s been acting strange lately,” Thane shrugged and pulled back before grinning up as Anders dropped an expensive looking bottle on the table and handed shot glasses around.

“Either you just got a nice pay-”

“It’s my way of payment for the bartender’s comments,” she told him, “I didn’t want to get kicked out and leave Red all by herself with you losers. You’ll fill her head with lies about me,” smirking she began pouring the drink. “So my ears are burning, what did you guys say about me?”

“Shaw thought you were _carefree_ , we decided to enlighten her. Thought about telling her some of those old stories involving you and three sirrians.”

“Hey, I had nothing to do with that,” she said, pointing the butt of the bottle at Thane, “I just happened to stumble in at the wrong time.”

“What’s a sirrian?” Natalia asked.

“My dad’s sirrian,” Anders explained. “So whenever there’s a fight and I’m in a two mile radius, I get the blame for starting it,” she shrugged, taking back the shot and letting out a hefty sigh, “Gods that better than sex.”

Nico laughed, “When’s the last time you got any, Anders. Your bunk seems to be awfully lonely lately.”

“I’ve got two hands. It’s not that lonely,” she shrugged. “What about you Nico, yours seems very empty lately. Who have you been sneaking around with? It’s not that tech boy Carmon is it?” Nico grinned taking the shot, “It is! I knew it. He’s been hacking into the schedule and letting you have all the good equipment first. That’s _cheating_.”

“Is it is, what is,” Nico shrugged, “how about you chikko, got any lovers back home?” Natalia stared at Nico, suddenly very aware of the fact that his eyes were a very, very pretty brown.

“Hey, stop it,” Kelly said flicking fingers in front of Nico’s eyes, “Feroming the new girl is rude.” Turning to Natalia she smiled softly, “You’ll become immune to it eventually, don’t worry. Just...stick around with someone when you’re around him, okay?” Natalia nodded, swallowing as the attraction for Nico began to wear off.

“Feroming?”

“Pheromones. He excretes a particular scent, your brain starts releasing chemicals in reaction and you start to think ‘hey, he’s not so bad’, when really he is.” Kelly shook her head, glaring at him, “it only works if there’s already an attraction there, but it’s _still_ cheating.”

“She didn’t answer the question,” Thane said, pushing them back on topic. “I’d say _yes_.”

“It’s a married woman,” Anders said before putting the shot into Natalia’s hands, “take it quickly, just swallow, okay?” Natalia snorted, knowing how to take a shot before she chucked in her mouth and swallowed.

Her eyes felt like they’d dilated at the feeling, her spine tingled. Anders was right, it was pretty damn good stuff. “What was that?” she asked, taking a breath of air.

Anders lifted the bottle. “Ah, it’s not written in standard, so I can’t read it.” She placed the bottle down. “But it’s the good stuff. Locals here just call it pandemonium, hence the name of the club.”

“Juinka,” Kelly told her. “You don’t want to know what it’s made from though. Or even where it comes from. It tastes good and sometimes that’s all that matters about stuff.”

“It’s not...like...dog is it?”

“No, no. Nothing like that. Fluids mixed with a very low-level of poison, don’t worry about it.”

“ _Poison_?” she questioned.

“Hey, I want to know about the married woman,” Thane said. “Is she hot.”

Natalia blinked before turning to Anders, “how did you know about Evangeline?” she asked.

“You kinda yelled it at me very, very loudly. Half the Hub knows about you and Evangeline,” she told her as she poured herself another shot before Nico took the bottle from her. “And Thane, piss off, its her business. She’s probably just another human like the rest of us. Nothing special, and if she is special, that’s Natalia’s business. Besides, I want to know about you and Jenny.”

That seemed to have everyone’s attention. Natalia blinked, feeling out of place.

“Th-there’s nothing between me and Jenny.”

“Please, I stumbled across you two not that long ago. I only kept my mouth shut because I was going to use it as bribery, but embarrassing you is more fun.” Everyone seemed to be leaning in closer to the table to listen to Thane’s story over the music.

“To be clear: you mean Jenny, as in _Jenny_ Jenny? The Captain, Jenny?”

“Yes, Williams, we all know who Jenny is,” Kelly said with a glare before glancing briefly at Natalia. “My question is _how_ did you...I mean...no offense but...like, _how?_ I just assumed all Krotans were non-sexual because of the lack of…genitals.” Thane seemed to sink further into the chair, stuttering terribly as he tried to avoid the subject of his sex-life.

“It’s...not _sex_ exactly,” Thane muttered under his breath, “not always. Mostly she’s just…do we have to talk about this?”

“Yes,” the group said, leaning forward.

Anders snickered into her shot before forcing Natalia to take another. Once the drink was down, Natalia refilled it again before Natalia could place the shot down onto the table. “You’re two shots behind everyone,” she explained, “catch up.”

“Drunk and crutches won’t work well together. Especially with a bummed leg,” she stated.

“Thane and Williams will carry you if they have to,” she shrugged. “Come on, you need to take the edge off, have a little fun.”

Fun involved the small crew teasing Thane, swapping stories to Natalia’s interest before Kelly muttered a short, “bathroom break.”

“I need to go to,” Natalia said, grabbing the crutches. She swayed on her leg before taking a deep breath and smiling as everyone watched her, “I’m not a light weight, just tipsy,” she assured before following Kelly at a slow pace, towards the bathroom.

Sweeping her eyes over the club, she got a good look at the dance floor. It sunk into the ground by a few steps, and involved a raised platform in the middle where a few hired dancers were drawing some attention. Natalia paused, watching them with wide eyes. They were beautiful, sleek and curvy with impossibly long, straight pale blonde hair.

The one in the centre seemed to look directly in her eyes and beckon her over. Natalia almost stepped forward until a hand grabbed her. “Sorry Shaw,” Kelly said, pulling her into the bathroom. “You don’t touch the merchandise.”

“But she wants me,” she whispered.

Kelly sighed, “Yeah, that’s what everyone thinks.” Wetting her hand she flicked a few drops on Natalia’s face, stunning her, “sorry. You were heavily dosed, must have gotten too close to the dance floor,” she said shrugging.

Natalia blinked a few times and wiped her face. “Is that what Nico is?” she asked, looking at the mirror. As someone walked in, Natalia pulled away from the door, pressing against the bench.

“Nah, Nico’s genetically altered. It’s like that, but the dancers are more. Nico makes you think he’s attractive so he might get away with a lot of stuff. They’re zalahsenko...you know those old stories about succubi? There’s rumours that long ago when Earth was green and thought the sun revolved around us and the _really_ old gods existed, that the zalahsenko visited when their population was thin. They used to live a few solar systems over from Earth. Now they live on the opposite side of the galaxy.”

“Can’t they prove that there’s some human DNA in their race?” Natalia asked, confused.

“No. The zalahsenko mating system is different. They don’t need DNA or sex sells or whatever. They...you know what, you’re asking the wrong girl,” Kelly laughed, “I’ll get it all wrong and get you in trouble. I’m just a soldier, and a mechanic. No, you want someone who studies that. All I know is that ten generations can crossbreed with any race and they’ll still look zalahsenko. They might have different bone structure or reading problems, but overall they’ll be zalahsenko.”

As a toilet stall opened and someone walked out, Kelly shrugged at her and left to use the toilet.

“What I hear,” a woman said as she washed her hands, “zalahsenko live as long as the person they love because of a bond they form. When the other person dies they basically die of heartbreak. If they partner with another zalahsenko though, they can live _forever_...it’s beautiful, don’t you think?” she asked.

Natalia nodded, her brow pinched in thought. It seemed horrible, to her. Frightening even. What if they fell in love with someone and the person died the next day? She looked up as another stall opened and another woman pushed past to use the bathroom. With a sigh, she hobbled over with her crutches to use the toilet, all the while thinking over the new race.

She’d come across so many species in a short time. Sure, some of them she’d read about before. It was important that they learnt about other races in school. But there were so many more. And probably millions of others that she hadn’t even met, not to include animals, insects and everything else. It was-

There was a loud noise as someone barked, “everyone out except Natalia Shaw.”

 _Fuck_ , _not again._

Natalia quickly pulled her pants up and grabbed her crutches. There was no point hiding, everyone had probably already left leaving her alone in the stall. Slowly she unlocked the door and opened it up.

“I said everyone,” a large, burly man asked, glaring down at Kelly. Kelly was somewhat built, but the man was massive and it looked to be all muscle. There was no way anything good could come from him, Natalia quickly decided.

“She’s with me, you got a problem with that?” Kelly growled, lowering her centre of gravity, she prepared herself for a fight with the man. “Anything you want, you go through me first.”

The man grinned, his eyes glinting at the idea of blood spill, “fine by me little girl.” He took a swipe at Kelly, who easily ducked it, flying through his widely parted legs before she pushed herself up and kicked the back of his knees. The man went down only briefly before he sent a drop kick. Kelly jumped on top of him grabbing his ears and ripping them back.

“Who sent you?” she demanded.

Natalia stood wide-eyed, at a loss in what to do. Did she run and leave Kelly, get help? Or did she stay and...stand around helplessly with maybe a chance of her getting a hit.

The man ran backwards, pushing with all his force, into the mirror hanging up the sink. Kelly’s head cracked the glass before her body went limp, stunned as she slid down. The man turned and looked at Natalia.

“Oh, fuck,” Natalia whispered before dropping one of the crutches, grabbing the other and swinging with all her force. The leg of the crutch hit the man in the head. Crashing sideways into the wall, clutching with one hand where he was hit. He pushed off the wall, angrier than he was before before coming at her.

Natalia slid her hands down, shifting her hold and swinging lower into his crotch. The man’s eyes went wide just as he dropped down to his knees. Swinging a last time, she knocked him over the head and watched as his eyes rolled back into his head. Terrified, she hit him again, then once more for good luck before she threw the crutch down on him.

It was covered in blood anyway. Dammit.

She forced herself to all but run to Kelly. Slapping her lightly on the cheek, she looked for blood. And found a heavy flow, bleeding from where her head hit the mirror. “Kelly, Kelly, are you there?” she asked desperately.

“Mmffmm,” Kelly managed, her eyes rolling. Natalia grabbed her, holding her close. There was no way in hell she was going to leave Kelly in the bathroom incase the man woke up. She swung Kelly’s arm around her neck, holding her waist as she bit her tongue. Her leg began to glow with pain as more than her own bodyweight was lent onto it. She bit her tongue harder, head pounding as she forced herself to move.

One foot in front of the other, right?

Pushing through the bathroom door, she grabbed the first person she could. The guy turned, wide-eyed. “What the hell happened to you?” he asked.

Natalia glared. “I need help- no, don’t touch her. Just...see that table there. Get someone from it.” She pushed him away and hobbled to the first lounge and glared at everyone to “ _fucking move it”_ before she placed Kelly down onto the couch. No one thought much of Kelly being passed out. She even saw the bartender side-eye her a bit and prepare to call security.

“What the hell happened?” Thane asked. Anders was already pushing past to the women’s bathroom, pausing only briefly to check over the two of them.

“Some guy tried to grab me. He slammed her into the mirror. I think we need a doctor -- I don’t-”

“Hey, it’s fine,” Thane said before he pulled up his implant, “This is Gregory Thane down at Pandemonium. There was a bar fight, my friend’s being knocked out and has a serious head injury. I need to get her up to the hospital asap.” Natalia didn’t hear the reply, her eyes staring down at Kelly.

“You okay?” Nico asked, coming up behind her and placing a hand onto her shoulder. Natalia’s shoulder snapped away, glaring at him before she dropped her expression. He was trying to be nice, not attack her.

She couldn’t bring her self to apologise for it. “She tried to protect me. I mean...the guy came and she-”

“Not another word,” Anders said, grabbing her arm harshly and pulling her away from Kelly. “Nico, take her back to the ship, don’t let anyone touch her,” she growled. “You,” she pointed at Natalia, glaring, “Don’t get into _any_ more fights, you hear me. I don’t need another one of my friends dying okay?” she turned away, dropping to her knees in front of Kelly.

Natalia didn’t even feel her own hand cover her mouth as she bit back the pain before Nico lead her away.

“She’s angry, she doesn’t mean it,” Nico told her, leading her back to the landing pad.

Natalia didn’t say away. She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her hands by her side. If Kelly died, she’d never forgive herself. After Korran, Maya and...Leia, god, Leia haunted her dreams. She couldn’t sleep at night anymore. DeWitt had to give her sleeping pills and even then she was clouded in nightmares. She preferred watching cartoons until she was too tired.

But if _Kelly_ died. She didn’t know what she’d do. Leia could be still alive, there was a chance that she was just in a room with all the other children, drawing crayon pictures of all her new friends.

Not a lifeless corpse, staring up in a pretty pink dress.

She’d never forgive herself if Kelly died.

Her body seemed to stumble, but she didn’t notice. But she did notice being helped into the car, or that she didn’t have her crutches. She didn’t feel the pain of her leg. Her heart was beating too loudly in her ears, Kelly’s face crumpling as she slammed into the mirror.

“She should have left and allowed me to get taken.”

“You kidding?” Nico said, “Anders would have slammed her head into the table and we’d be in the same situation with you down. No. Kelly’s a fighter, she’s had worse injuries and she wasn’t at the Hub at the time, this has the best hospital with some of the leading doctors. She’ll see this as a new story and be telling all the nurses in the ward that she fought a dragon or something. Just you wait. She might even talk about how stupidly dumbstruck your face was the entire time.”

Natalia’s shoulders fell. “I should have hit him sooner. I got scared and I froze up. I didn’t know if I should send for help or if I should wait or get in the fight or-”

“Chikko, when all this is over, you should think about learning some combat skills.” Natalia frowned and looked up at him, “you seem to get into more trouble than Anders. Someone’s after you and they’re-” he cut off as he frowned, looking at the route. “This isn’t the way to docking bay.” The taxi driver didn’t say anything, “Excuse me, you’re supposed to-” the taxi driver turned, pulling out a gun and aiming it at Nico, shooting him in the head.

Natalia screamed.

 


	11. Forget

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico’s body slumped in the seat and Natalia couldn’t stop staring.

11.

Nico’s body slumped in the seat and Natalia couldn’t stop staring. The scream in her throat died as she looked at him. It was surreal. Impossible. He’d been alive, chatting to her, assuring her and now...she couldn’t understand what had happened. She didn’t want to understand. But no matter how much she tried to reject the reality, her eyes went to the seeping wound on his large forehead, clumping to strands of dark hair.

Her heart raced as she stared at the body – because it _was_ just a body now. A corpse. It was empty. Void of all life and she _couldn’t_ understand how that happened to him.

But she should, shouldn’t she? She’d taken life, she’d seen it happen before. But not with someone human.

“You...you _killed_ him. Why, why would you do that? Couldn’t you have taken both of us?” she cried out at him. Her fingers clenched, her jaw felt clamped and her back felt like it could snap at any moment with all the pressure she was giving it.

“No. Only one, that was my orders. Kill anyone who came in with you.”

“Why?” But she knew why. Everyone from Pandemonium thought she was on the ship, everyone else thought she was elsewhere. No one would notice she was gone until it was too late. “Did the verokins hire you?” she asked.

“Look, if you don’t shut up, I’m going to shoot your other leg, okay?” Natalia went quiet, her eyes on Nico. There was no way he’d survive it. Reaching out, she found herself touching his leg, hoping that this was all surreal and she’d passed out in the bathroom, or the brute man from before had knocked her out cold.

His pants were smooth and had an oily texture to it. Slowly she pulled her fingers away and looked at his face. She wanted to say she was sorry, that she didn’t mean for him to be there. She should have refused to leave Kelly’s side or stormed away from Nico, shrugged his touch off and ran – as much as she could on a hobbled leg. Anything that meant that he didn’t have to be here.

“You could have just knocked him out. Shot him in the shoulder or leg and given him a fighting chance!” she yelled.

The cab driver turned around and stared at her. “I have a job to do, girly. Unless you want the both of us to go flying into a building then I suggest you shut it.” Natalia’s eyes never left the back of the driver. She watched him carefully, allowing her anger to consume her.

“You know who he is?” she demanded, “his name is Nico and he’s a soldier. I don’t know much, but I’m pretty sure killing a soldier is likely to get you in prison and they will find out. Because when this over, when I get out of wherever your taking me, I’ll make sure that Nico gets justice because he sure as hell deserves that.”

The man laughed, “tough luck. You’re going to the sewers. Black-market transportation girly. You aint never gonna see this place again. And I’ll get away with killing pretty-boy here, just like I can get away with whatever I do to you before I get you there.” Natalia felt the anger surge uncontrollably. The seatbelt clicked off and before she knew what she was doing, she’d reached over, grabbed the gun and twisted it out of his hands.

Before the man complained, she pressed the gun against his head.

“You won’t shoot,” he said confidently. “You’re just a girl, you aint no soldier.”

“No. I’m not. I’m just a girl and in the last two weeks I’ve done things. I set fire to a forest and burned down a depot with the people still inside. I shot a flare inside of a beat’s mouth as it tried to shred me apart. I looked into the eyes of a giant spider and watched as mother of all beasts swallowed it whole. I let a man’s pregnant wife and their child die. I also shot a verokin dead with his own gun, and not five minutes ago, I beat a man with my crutches. But yeah, I’m just a girl who watched a friend die.” She cocked the gun, “try me.”

The car slammed suddenly into something. There was the distinct sound of the shields breaking before the gravitation unit in the car broke. Natalia, the gun still in grip flew up to the ceiling, crashing as the gun went off.

Wildly, the driver tried to control the car, turning the wheel. Cars flew past them as they bumped dangerously into a buildings shield. The car groaned before it was veered away, bouncing off other cars shields and making Natalia’s head slam back into the ceiling, and into the side of the car.

Natalia gasped, her eyes opening as she watched Nico’s body rolled in the seatbelt, his arms flailing limply as the taxi spun, hitting other cars and veering them off course. Natalia dropped the gun and covered her face, crying out in pain as something hit her leg. She heard the gun spin in the car as her stomach hit the light before she smashed into the back of the front seats.

_It could go off at any time_ , a thought whispered. Something metal and thin slammed into her head and Natalia squeezed her eyes tighter, listening as the drive swore loudly before suddenly going silent as sickening crack and shatter was heard.

The car gave a last turn over. She heard a window crack moments before she slammed into it. There was a second where everything in the taxi paused and went quiet. Her eye flew open again, wide, staring up at Nico’s body, still limp in the seatbelt. In the reflection of the opposite window, she could see her face. Red, wild hair was everywhere, skin paled, her expression agape in horror, knowing what was about to happen. Then the glass shattered.

Her head cracked on the edge of the taxi as half her body flew out. Her arms grabbing the armrest, holding on tight as she looked over at the drive. His window was horrifically cracked, blood stained the centre of it where a head stayed limp.

Natalia could hear her breath, feel it intake and exhale wildly. They were somewhere with an atmosphere, that much she could tell. Out in space she wouldn’t have lasted long. But she could also hear the taxi’s wildly driving around, she see glimpses of them out the corner of her eye, shimmering behind the atmospheric shield.

Her grip was slipping. Natalia whimpered, trying to hoist herself up. The car groaned. Afraid to push it over, Natalia slowly allowed herself to dangle. Carefully, she looked to her right. They’d crashed into a building, smashing right through it at an odd angle. Unlike the areas where taxi’s frequently drove through, out in space, the building she hung out of was in an atmospheric area and didn’t require shields to stop cars from running into them.

Natalia looked down before instantly wishing she hadn’t. She was up high, very high. More than enough to tell that she wouldn’t survive the fall. Below her, there was a fast growing crowd. Natalia sniffed before she bit her tongue. Now was not the time.

Pulling her head back, she look at the fake sky. It was blue, pretty. Clouds dotted the sky lightly in different shapes, but nothing up there looked like it could help her.

She shut her eyes before glancing at the car. Nico was hanging sideways, his body hanging only on by the waist of the seatbelt, it must have been knocked out or slid out from the part of the seatbelt that crossed over his chest.

Natalia’s heart stopped. He was also slipping. If he fell, it’d upset the very small balance they had. She didn’t know if it was for better or for worse. Her heart was racing and her mind felt blank from all thoughts except _oh god._ She kept repeating the words, feeling them become meaningless in her head the more she stared at the body.

She needed to focus. She needed to think words, ideas. She had to get out of this.

But she couldn’t stop looking at Nico. His eyes were open wide, permanently shocked at the gun he’d seen moments too late.

She should have-

No. There was no point thinking of the past now. Nico was dead. Her life was hanging on the balance. She needed to think and quickly. Turning her head, she looked at the buildings. Where the car had crashed into a room. If she could just _get_ to it, she’d be okay.

Nico slipped a little further and Natalia stopped thinking.

She took a breath, hoisted herself up as far and fast as she could, grabbing onto the plastic lock that stuck up before she swung her body’s weight and grabbed the door handle of the driver’s seat. She felt,then heard it click as Nico’s body began to slide out. The door began to open, tilting the weight even further. The car made a loud noise and Natalia launched herself the short distance onto the ledge. She grabbed onto the ledge, feeling shattered glass slice her hand as the car began to fall.

Blood gushed from the wound, slipping over and down her arm as she forced herself up, grunting and crying out as she tried to pull herself in the room. Below, she heard a muffled crash before she finally fell in the room. Slipping as glass cut over her stomach, down her legs before Natalia landed painfully onto a broken coffee table, before slamming onto the floor.

Dazed, she looked up at the ceiling and to a blinking light that swung above wildly. It was still, her body paralysed from that last fall. Terror fluttered in the back of her mind before she gasped, gulping in mouthfuls of air as relief slid over her.

She knew she couldn’t stay here, if she did, she would probably bleed out before anyone found her.

Natalia groaned again, forcibly pulling herself back up onto her feet. She could feel blood hotly spilling down her body, a rush of nausea and dizziness twisting over her until she bent over, clutching at a bench, or a table – no, a dresser. Damn.

Brushing hair off her face, she felt more blood smudge across her forehead, beginning to dry like a thin layer of war paint over her face.

Cuts from the jagged glass had ripped open her hands and arms the worst, but thin short cuts were on her stomach and legs. Superficial marks for the most part. They could wait for professional medical attention.

Natalia stumbled. Grabbing the first material she could see – a towel folded tidily against the dresser in the standard hotel room – and wrapping her arm as best she could. She cried out as her casted leg bit through her adrenaline and sent her down to the floor, crashing against the bed. In hard breaths she forced herself up again, blinking away at damp eyelashes.

“I can do this,” she hissed through clenched teeth, glaring stubbornly at the wall as she took hard, unsteadied steps. Her hands began to sting, as did the rest of her body until it became one pulsating throb, but she didn’t care. Natalia grabbed a door handle before recoiling at the sharp, hot pain.

Looking down at the palms of her hands, she shuddered at the sight of them. They were probably sliced up the most; mangled and red. She’d forgotten about them after she terribly bandaged her arm. Looking around the room again, she grabbed the pillow and slipped off the cover, using that to bandage the hand the best she could.

She grabbed another one, more difficultly with the ‘bandaged hand’ and wrapped the other hand as best could. Blood seeped through the green pillow covers like they were made from tissue paper, but for the moment it would do.

Natalia opened the first door, stumbling into a hallway and found herself leaning against the wall for support. Her head spun as black seeped into the corner of her eyes. Damn. But she pushed on, determined.

The hallway turned as she limped and half dragged herself to the elevator blurred in the distance.

“Oh my god,” someone said as she entered, collapsing to the ground.

“Accident. Ran with scissors,” she said, seeing the kid hiding behind his hands, “don’t do that.” The elevator dinged and she pushed herself up again, climbing out of the elevator before she realised that she had no idea what she was doing or even where she was going.

Her head was fuzzy – adrenaline rush, loss of blood? – as she knocked on the first door she saw. Collapsing at the door, she heard someone grunt behind it, muttering about being asleep before they opened and looked down at her. “Can you...can you call me-?” she asked, looking up at a sizeable pale gut, before slipping unconscious.

 

She was rushed, quickly to the hospital. Vaguely she was aware of them as they checked her pupils. Her eyes remained open after that, rolling wildly as she tried to understand what was happening. There were colours, flashing lights that spun. She could feel someone doing something to her body. Feel her bandaging removed, replaced.

She began coughing, wheezing and then a mask was placed over her face. A man touched her shoulder, asking questions. Her eyes rolled, her brow pinched as she tried to see what was happening. She couldn’t understand, couldn’t hear. He fell away and moved elsewhere. A woman replaced his spot, dangling something red above her head.

She was pushed through doors, people slammed out of the way. She could hear her name being called, someone yelling, trying to understand. She didn’t understand, didn’t know how bad it was, how well the adrenaline had worked, how much blood that was lost.

Her body was going into shock. Her heart was rapid in her chest, eyes rolling again. She could hear people shouting, getting pushed out of the way. Someone was yelling loudly, trying to reach for her. Her eyes rolled back a last time. She was out.

 

There was a shock, blinding light, her body convulsed and she took a breath. Then fell. The people calmed down, moved around her in a flow…

She could hear them talking. Someone was screaming, shouting. There was a smell. Burning. Suddenly she was being rushed somewhere else. People left her, trying to deal with something else that was happening at the same time.

Lights were shot in her direction, bright. Blinded she tried to move. Someone grabbed her, held her down. She felt something put inside of her, saw liquid slipping down a tube before she turned and looked at the moving group of people. They were taking photos of her, of someone else, of…

 

The voices echoed before a face pushed in front of her, smiling softly, “Good, you’re awake. They warned that you might awake earlier than expected” she whispered. “How do you feel, dear?” she asked softly. Natalia cringed, groggy.

“What happened?”

“You don’t remember? You were in a taxi before it took major damage to its shield and, from your head wound, gravitation unit. You’ve taken a lot of damage in the last few days. The doctor’s worried that you might have brain damage,” she sighed. “But everything seems to be okay at the moment. You lost a lot of blood though.”

“Brain damage?” Natalia echoed, her voice still groggy from waking up. “Do I have to recite the alphabet again?”

The nurse gave a short laugh, “I don’t think that would help dear. Not many people know the Earth alphabet anymore,” she smiled. “A doctor will come in later and ask you some pretty standard question, but you’re up and talking quiet well. I think you’ll be fine. You’re friend’s okay too,” she told her brightly.

“Ni...co?” she managed, feeling hope glimmer. Maybe things were different here, maybe they had the technology to save him.

The woman’s smile faded and instantly her hope was crushed. “No dear. I’m afraid he was dead instantly. Kelly Rivera will be okay though. Your friends are with her, do you want me to tell them you’re awake?” Natalia’s eyes filled, her lips pulling back as a sob grabbed her. Slowly and painfully she turned her head away from the door. “I’ll give you a moment.” The woman left.

Natalia couldn’t clench her hands, couldn’t do anything but roll over and place a well bandaged hand over her stomach. Shutting her eyes, she drew in a sharp breath before it exhaled in a sob. It was all her fault. She was the reason Kelly was hurt, that Nico died.

Raina would never forgive her. She’d probably slap her or break her nose given the first chance. She deserved it.

Natalia curled up in a ball as tight as she could, bringing the sheets up in her hands as if they were something to hold. She wanted something. A soft toy, or another pillow. Someone to hold against her and pretend that someone was holding her, looking after her. That they didn’t care what had happened.

She tried to shut her eyes, but the images flashed, the sound of the gun going off twice. Nico’s face. The car rolling. The feeling of the glass shattering behind her. She squeezed tighter, trying to block the images. Korran came into her mind, falling beside her, his eyes open wide. _They took Leia_.

Blinking, she stared awake at the wall. A blank, white wall that showed nothing.

Her chest hurt. Her throat felt raw. Natalia eyes moved to the glass of water within grasp, without thinking, she grabbed it and threw it at the wall. A nurse ran into the room, his face agape, thinking something had happened before he saw her face. Quietly he called for a small bot to sweep and wipe up the mess. Natalia didn’t say a word, keeping her eyes locked onto the wall with fierce intensity.

“You’ll give yourself another heart attack,” someone said by her door. Natalia turned sharply, scared that someone had returned before she saw Thane by the door. Her shoulders sagged. A part of her had hoped for Anders, not recognising the masculinity in the voice.

“How’s Kelly?” she asked. Her voice came out rasped, but she didn’t bother to clear it. Instead she just dropped her eyes and looked to the foot of the bed.

“She’s good. Minor concussion. She’ll stay overnight for observation but tomorrow she’ll be able to check out.” Slowly he moved further in the room, waiting for Natalia to make him leave. She didn’t. “It’s a circus out there. Media’s buzzing with news about you. You’re the new star,” he half laughed but it died quickly. He licked his lips nervously, shifting weight from one foot to the other. “You can’t blame yourself,” he told her.

“Anders does.”

Thane flinched, “Anders blames herself for everything. She put a hole in the wall after they dragged you in. She was so pissed that you went and got yourself cut up when you were supposed to be under her watch. But when they dragged in Nico’s body in the bag...she’s not mad at you.”

Natalia didn’t believe him. It was her fault. She should have done something. She’d be right there with him. She saw the man reach for something, saw him turn to face them with the gun in grip. She could have _done_ something.

Thane paused before adding, “The Council’s threatening to strip Anders of her title and give her a dishonourable discharge.”

Natalia looked up, horrified, “they can’t do that. It’s not her fault!”

“I know. But...she doesn’t. She’s accepted her face. The Admiral’s trying to fight it but he’s under the same threat. Technically we all are. Except Rivera. Without knowing what happened and with Kelly’s amnesia for that evening, the Council is under the belief that she managed to knock out the guy before she was thrown into the mirror.”

Natalia shrugged, not caring about what he was saying, “that could have happened.”

Thane frowned at her, “except it _didn’t_. She was obviously knocked out before she was thrown into the mirror. I saw the body. There’s no way he threw her into the mirror at that angle with enough force to do that much damage.” Again, Natalia shrugged.

“If it keeps her from getting in trouble, then I don’t care about what they believe,” she told him. Thane’s jaw clenched.

“You can’t just _lie,_ it’s a justice system. If we-”

“If we what? That justice system’s broken if it’s going to get Anders, the Admiral and anyone else just _happened_ to be around ‘discharged’ instead of those who were trying to kidnap me. Maybe they should try and find out who wanted me before they go around pointing fingers at people who were trying to help!” Taking a breath, she slowly let it go, and looked at the shock on Thane’s face. He hadn’t expected her to react like that. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to shout.”

Thane sniffed. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not.” She breathed out slowly, forcing her hands to unclench, “Did they at least ID the driver?”

“No. His body was removed from the car before they had a chance. There was a flash bomb, burnt away all the evidence. But they’re trying to cross-reference a picture they have of him on the docking pad at Pandemonium. So far no hits have come up.”

Natalia nodded, “at least he’s dead. No one could have survived a fall that big.”

“Yeah, well I’d like to have shot him myself, to be honest.” Thane sighed, running a hand through the light blond hair. “I just came to see how you were holding up,” he told her. Natalia looked down at her hands and nodded. Through her peripheral vision, Natalia saw Thane leave with a small hesitation and a shake of his head.

The room was quiet. Natalia slid back down into the bed, turning her head to look out the window. Taxi’s drove around outside. She couldn’t hear the sounds of them whizzing past at high speeds, but she could feel the room almost vibrate when a taxi skidded of the building’s shield to avoid another.

A nurse came in later with food. She eyed over Natalia’s stats, asked if she needed any help to the bathroom before leaving with a final, “call if you need anything, dear.”

Natalia wished she had a data-interface on her. She wanted to read the press report and find out what the media was saying about her. The nurse wouldn’t let her, which to Natalia, could only mean the worst.

Making a decision, she ripped off the sheets and grabbed the IV drip. Her legs and stomach were bandaged, and the cast was removed and replaced with a bandage. Everything was pristine and white against her skin. She’d already knew, without being told, that she was going to have scars all over her body.

Hoisting herself onto her feet, she disconnected herself from the machines and walked down the hallway, looking into rooms before she found Kelly.

She was alone thankfully and in a small room similar to herself. “Hey,” she muttered, limping over to a chair before easing herself into it. Kelly turned and looked at her. “I don’t expect anything from you,” she told her, “I just needed to say thank you. You...probably saved my life and almost got yourself killed in the focus. I just wanted to say thanks.”

She blinked. “Who are you?” Kelly asked.

“You don’t...remember me?” Natalia asked before the answer hit her. “Of course you don’t, you have amnesia of yesterday, don’t you?” Kelly looked at her confused, her dark eyes sparkling curiously. Natalia dropped her eyes away. “No one. I’m no one. I just needed to say thank you.”

The machine beeped quietly in the room as Natalia stared at the bandages on her hand again. She had held a gun there and threatened to blow a guy’s brains out. Would she have done it if they hadn’t crashed? She didn’t know. She’d been ready to do it then, but now she was disgusted with herself. He deserved it, but could she _actually_ do it?

“Is this about the incident from before...are you the girl in the bathroom they keep telling me about?” she asked.

“Nah,” Natalia lied. “I must have the wrong room,” she whispered. “I hope you get better.” Pulling herself up onto her feet, she left the room quickly. Kelly called for her to wait, but she pushed past the door, pretending she couldn’t hear her.

Nurses moved in the hallway, barely noticing her. One stopped to ask what she was doing before she told them she was looking for the toilet. With a point, she headed into the direction of the toilet stall and ended up finding herself walking further until she was in the elevator. No one really seemed to look at you if appeared to know where you wanted to go. You just ended up blending in.

Natalia slid the doors shut and looked at the numbers. Except, they weren’t numbers, they were words written in another language.

Pressing the first button, she leaned against the back of the elevator and waited. She’d stick out, wearing the patient garments that did-up at the front, but she didn’t care. She wanted off this ‘hub’, out of the galaxy. She wanted to go home. The elevator slowed down before suddenly flying right. Through the glass sides, she could see a place below where the elevator cab flew through.

There was grass, a pool and people of different size, shapes and colours that were lazily playing around.

_“Arriving at the Shopping Centre. Have a good day!”_ Natalia scowled at the AI’s voice before the doors opened. She clicked another button and watched as the doors slid shut again. The trip was shortened and only caused the cab to go directly down a fair few floors before the AI’s voice chimed, “ _Arriving at the Swimming Centre_. _Have a good day!”_ Natalia clicked the buttons again and again until the it came to one of the last places “ _Arriving at Pandemonium. Have a good day!”_

She blinked at the name before her eyes narrowed.

It’d do. She didn’t have clothes, money or anything but the bones in her body. She was tired, pissed and wanted to be anywhere but here.

Except the hospital and after there, she had nowhere else. It was the lesser of two evils and it had alcohol. Natalia brushed by security with ease. They gave one look at her and let her in without another word. She didn’t know if it was to do with how she looked or who she was. She didn’t care.

She gave one look around before her eyes caught the dance floor. With her leg, she’d look nothing but stupid, but the three zalahsenko’s were dancing. She remembered how it felt to be caught in one of their gazes, how good it felt. She wanted that again.

Natalia found herself walking forward, down the stairs, feeling the bass of the music make her entire body hum. People knocked in to her as she walked closer to the zalahsenko before she was close enough to breathe the same air.

“You’re pretty,” the centre one said, brushing a thumb over her chin. “And broken,” she ran her eyes over Natalia body, noticing the bandages and bruises on her body.

“I don’t know why I’m here,” she admitted.

“Everyone who comes here wants to forget,” she whispered. “I can make you forget, for a price.” Her voice sent shivers down Natalia. Anger, pain, fear, it all slipped away from her. She could feel herself becoming numb.

Natalia blinked, stepping back slightly, “I don’t have any money.”

“I don’t need money,” she whispered. Her body duplicated suddenly and she stepped off as her replacement double took to dancing. Natalia stared before an arm slipped around her waist and her lead her away. “I want you to let me feed from you, your very core. It’ll only take a few years off from you life.”

Dumbly, Natalia nodded, following the woman. It was only a few years, she didn’t need them anyway.

The long, pale hair shimmered as she lead Natalia through a back door, into an alley way. The smell outside stunk like urine. Natalia felt some of the haze over her mind disappear before she felt her hand slow be taken by the other woman, “It’s just through here,” the woman said, leading her into another building. Natalia nodded again as she quietly followed through the doorway to the set of the stairs inside.

Her body felt almost numb as she walked up the stairs and followed the woman through another door into a dark hallway, then down to the very end before she was lead to a locked door. The woman’s wrist pressed to a white device, before the door opened, revealing a very large, expensive studio apartment.

Natalia stared at the room. It was beautiful. One entire wall was covered in glass windows looking out into space. Her eyes couldn’t pull away. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever scene. A green nebula could be seen in the distance, twisting with sparks of blue in a surreal design. She wanted to live here, looking out forever.

“What’s your name?” The woman asked softly, calling Natalia’s attention back to her as she shut the door behind them.

“Natalia,” she whispered. “What’s yours?” Her eyes went to the zalahsenko’s. Under soft lights the woman appeared perfect. Tall and slender with sharp eyes and long dark hair, only shades darker than her skin. She pulled her hair out from its ties and allowed it to hang loose down her back.

“Call me Niha,” she whispered, pushing Natalia back onto the couch. Natalia heard the woman kick off her heels before the woman climbed on top of her. Niha looked down at the her with her own grey eyes, allowing Natalia to watch them shimmer the reflection of space in the windows behind the couch.

Natalia reached up, slowly tracing her fingertips across the woman’s jaw bone before Niha lent down and kissed her softly.

Shutting her eyes, she reached up and held onto the alien’s waist, tugging her closer as another hand wrapped around the base of the woman’s neck, entangling into the dark hair.

Niha pulled her lips away before her forehead pressed against her. “Mm. You hurt,” she whispered as she undid the bindings of the hospital garments. “Don’t worry,” she breathed against Natalia’s lips, one hand running down an arm, spreading warmth through a pulse into Natalia’s body. “I’m going to make you feel alive. I can make it stop. For a time.” Her head pulled away before pressing against Natalia’s jaw then her neck, kissing down as a deep moan was pulled from Natalia.

Niha’s fingers entwined with Natalia’s, pushing the hands against the spine of the couch as another surge of warmth ran through Natalia’s body from the zalahsenko.

Natalia gasped, eyes flying open as Niha pulled her head up and kissed her lips. The hospital garments were pulled down her arms and thrown away before she cupped Niha’s face and kissed harder, her teeth tugging at the bottom lip, sucking until she could taste something familiar.

The alien kissed back with ferocity, hands clutching at her as she dragged the kiss slower, until she pulled away, tugging strands of life from Natalia lips. She rocked her hips forward against Natalia’s, her head falling back as she drank in the strands. When she kissed her again, Niha smiled, laughing against her mouth. “You taste different,” she whispered before kissing down Natalia’s throat again, moving her body so she could continue down, between the exposed breasts. “I think I might keep you.”

Natalia grabbed Niha, her hands grabbing the dancer’s wrists before pulling them away from her. She spun their bodies before pushing the length of her own against Niha’s, until Niha was lying on the couch, Natalia above her. As the alien sighed, her fingers began ghosting the curves of Natalia’s body, feeling the curve from her breasts to the dip in the waist. “You said you could make me forget,” Natalia said as she kissed down Niha’s throat.

“Only for the night,” Niha moaned, eyes rolling back.

“That’s all I need.”


	12. Conviction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sex, drugs and murder conviction

12.

Niha’s toned arm was wrapped around her waist when she woke up. Slowly, Natalia pulled away and padded barefoot over to the open bathroom. The light was dim as entered, thankfully. A painful headache echoed over her body and head like bad hang over. Squinting, she looked at her reflected self. She was sure she hadn’t drank last night. There wasn’t the familiar taste in her mouth of alcohol, nor did she feel nausea.

But her image looked it. Her eyes were bloodshot, her lips cracked. Even the smile didn’t quite meet her face.

Bruises were forming over her body and her face, casting an unpleasant image reflected in the mirror. The bandages though, looked days older then they were. Frayed around the edges, stained and smelling faintly of old sweat.

Turning her head, she looked over at Niha, the woman was laying on her stomach. For the first time, Natalia noticed the faint tattoo on her back; a complex design of geometric shapes. She wanted to explore it, but as exposed as she’d been to the woman last night, she now felt out of place.

She needed to leave.

Natalia slid into the shower to wash the musk off her body before she dried her hair and stepped out, by that time Niha had awoken. “You can take some of my old clothes to wear,” she said, pointing to the wardrobe. “The memories you forgot will come back later. I don’t know how much it hurt but I suggest going back to the hospital before it happens.”

“It’ll hurt?” Natalia stared at her, shocked.

Niha shrugged, “it’s balance. For all the pleasure and work it took to make you forget last night has to be evened somehow. It’s not a cure, what we do, but it will help you to cope better than you were before.” Natalia nodded before heading to the closet. Hanging up on a silver bar was an assortment of clothes. One side ranged from modest cuts and business clothes, while the other contained wild colours and small materials. In the centre hung simple, casual attire.

Natalia reached up, flicking through the right side of the wardrobe before selection a rather plain, button-up blue shirt and a set of charcoal pants she’d seen more than once hanging up. Lifting up the clothes, she looked at Niha for approval.

“Yeah, they’re fine. I thought you might have gone for something more...expensive,” she said watching Natalia dress.

“Expensive?” Natalia asked, rolling her shoulders uncomfortably with the lack of a bra. “No, comfort suits me better. I look fine.” She turned into a mirror and loosened strands of her wet hair, running fingers through any of the knots. “Aside from the pain, what else will I lose?” she asked.

“Nothing we didn’t agree on,” Niha replied. Pulling herself free of the sheets, she walked over and began to braid Natalia’s red hair, tying the end quickly before pressing a soft kiss to her cheek. “Don’t come looking for another zalahsenko unless you really need to,” she whispered, “you don’t want to become an addict. Believe me.” Natalia smiled softly at her, taking the hand that had rose to stroke her cheek.

“I’ll be fine,” she promised, turning to look her in the eye. “I’m not the type to get addicted easily.”

Niha looked at her, her face soft as pulled her hands away. “Try saying that after the memories come back.” Taking a breath, she smiled purposefully and kissed the lip. “I enjoyed last night. If I’d been someone else, perhaps I would have stolen you away.”

Natalia pulled away. “Why did you help me?” she asked. When Niha looked at her, her face masked of all emotion, Natalia’s eyes dropped away. “It doesn’t matter.” Picking up the remnants of her clothes from the day before, she turned around and walked out the door, not looking back.

The headache began to pulse in her head as she reached the door and began walking down the stairs. When she reached outside, the sky was dark. It didn’t prove anything, she’d been gone for a fair few hours, she knew that at least. Natalia walked through the alley, past the few people she could see out of the corner of her eye, rummaging through the trash for half empty bottles.

Their eyes were hollow, bones prominent against their skin. She didn’t look at them directly, instead she continued to the elevator and pressed all of the buttons, hoping one of them would eventually leave to the hospital. She needed to learn how to read, but none of the words at first glance carried any patterns.

The headache was beginning to throb as the elevator cab moved through a bright atmospheric light. Pressing her head against the cool glass, she shut the door and listened to the AI’s voice, waiting for the _“Welcome to…_ ”

It took a few tries, but eventually she arrived at the hospital. Except, instead of the hallway she’d left from yesterday, she ended up in the reception.

Her eyes blinked as she shut her eyes and stepped out before just shading her eyes with her hand. “What do you mean she’s missing?” she heard the too familiar, distinct yell of Anders, “the Lieutenant will gut me if he finds out she’s lost. And when that bloody happens I’ll come back to take it out on you twice over! How did a patient just _leave_?”

There was a small murmuring from whoever replied. Natalia couldn’t see, people were walking around, small, quiet conversation as they tried to listen in on the argument.

“What do you mean you don’t know? It’s a hospital. Where’s your fucking cameras?”

Natalia immediately dropped her head lower and pulled her shoulder’s up, in attempt to camouflage with the many others in the reception as possible. She looked to where Anders stood over a counter, hands flat as she threatened the poor woman. Guiltily, Natalia looked away and tried to make her way back to her room.

When they found her there again, this will all be settled.

“I’m sorry ma’am, you can’t come this way,” a man told her as she tried to walk past him.

“No, I’m a patient, see.” she pointed to bandages in a low voice. “I stepped out briefly, but I’m back.”

“I’m sorry ma’am,” he said again. “I’ll need proof of that.” Natalia felt her shoulders sag before she turned around to sulk to the reception desk, praying Anders wouldn’t see her.

It was too late. The woman was behind her, arms crossed under her chest looking _pissed_. Her eyes seemed to glow, but Natalia wasn’t sure if that was really happening or if her headache was getting the best of her. Anders blew out a harsh breath as she glared hotly at Natalia.

“Where. The _Hell_. Have. You. Been?” she said between clenched teeth. Her jaw twitched at the movement. Weakly, Natalia smiled as she shaded her arm against the light. “Have you been _drinking?_ ” she asked before taking a sniff and looking down at the clothes. The anger in her eyes was nothing in comparison to what took over then. Grabbing Natalia’s shirt in her firsts, she slammed the girl against the wall as she pushed up against her, “don’t tell me you were that _stupid_ ,” she whispered. “Tell me you went drinking and ended up in some random _human_ bed.”

“She was a dancer?” Natalia offered weakly. Anders pulled back and slammed her again. Her eyes dilated black as she pushed further up against Natalia, growling as she tried not to punch her.

“Do you have a death wish?” she asked. “Those _creatures_ are fucking dangerous Shaw! They’ll drain you _dry_ , especially if-” she cut herself off as Natalia’s eyes opened wide with fear. Dropping her, she stepped back. Natalia hadn’t even noticed that people were stepping in closer if things got out of hand. “How much?”

“What?”

“How much did she take?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“She took years off you. How _many_ did she take?”

“I don’t know!” Natalia screamed as a hand grabbed around her throat. “A few years. She said she’d take a few years.”

“You fucking idiot,” Anders dropped her again and pulled away, shaking her head. “You know, you just keep getting into trouble. You can tell the Lieutenant that I’m _out_. I can’t deal with your shit.”

Natalia flinched at the comment, “Wouldn’t you have done it.”

Anders head flicked around, mouth twitching at her. “Don’t,” she warned.

Natalia swallowed, softening her voice. She just _needed_ her to understand. “Wouldn’t you? If for a night you could forget everything.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“So she took a few years off me, big deal. I wouldn’t have used those years. I would have died at fifty-five. That’s the average life span where I’m from, did you know that?”

Something flickered across Anders face, softening it. Relief flushed through Natalia as she took that for a good sign.

“Of course I took the chance to forget, spend something extra I wouldn’t need, and you know what, I’d do it again. For the first time since I got out here I can take a freaking breath and not feel it shudder inside of me as I wonder if I can take another. I can’t _remember_ what happened and that’s all I wanted. I can’t remember faces or names and for the first time in years, I feel happy, even if it’s just for just a little while. Do you understand?”

“No, you know what, I don’t!” Anders said, “I wouldn’t. Because the first time you’re a virgin, untouched and addictive. So for you its nice, it’s amazing and you feel great, but the next time and the time after that, the happiness is shorter, the pain more as you start to remember and you can’t _afford_ to give your life away anymore, so you try to buy it with whatever money you have, and they’re young and clumsy and the happiness is _seconds_ the pain _excruciating._ It’s not worth it then, but you’re hooked, you can’t breathe if your not in their bed. They consume your soul until you’re _nothing_!” The last word echoed in the room. “You’re _pathetic_ ,” Anders told her. “Grow up and get over yourself. People have dealt with worse then you have.” She glared then stepping back, watching as Natalia fell to the ground before she walked away. “Next time just by yourself an escort. At least sex is good for you”

Natalia stared, shocked as Anders left the hospital, refusing to meet her eyes as she spun around in the elevator. How come she didn’t understand? Blinking, she swallowed the sore lump in her throat, trying to breath as her headache pulse.

The nurses came, quietly helping Natalia onto her feet before she was told to change and return to her room. Natalia complied easily, allowing them to change her dressings and bandages without a word before she climbed into the bed and answered the doctor’s questions.

“Going to a zalahsenko after taking a beating like that is dangerous,” he told her. “I’m not here to scold you, just to inform you that if you do it again, there’s a chance you could cause irreparable brain damage.” Natalia nodded. “Your friend. She’s just worried about you. As soon as she found out you were missing she threatened to dismember the nurses if they didn’t find you.”

Natalia didn’t reply, and instead took to fiddling with the blanket. “So far you seem okay for health. We’ll keep you here overnight for observation and then I believe you’ll be seeing the Council tomorrow. After that you can be discharged depending on the situation.” He smiled at her. “Try to get some rest.”

“There’s something wrong with me,” Natalia said suddenly as she looked up at the doctor. He frowned at her. “I...saw my file. My permanent one. It mentioned genetic modification to me when I was a fetus. What does that mean?” she asked.

“How did you get your file?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said shortly. “What does it mean?”

“I can’t disclose that information with you,” he apologised. “ _I_ shouldn’t even know about it, nor the doctor who found out and added it to your file. It’s information that we’re not allowed to look into.”

“But you know about it.”

“When it was put on your file it raised a red flag,” he explained. “That’s all I can tell you.”

Natalia nodded, “thank you,” she whispered.

The doctor nodded shortly before leaving her room, closing the door behind him. Natalia curled up on the bed under the blankets and looked out at the window, wondering what scientists had done to her. If she had any hope, she’d ask her mother. But for that she needed something to connect her to her. Back at home, they didn’t own a vidcom. The only way she knew _might_ contact her mother was a normal telephone – so far none seemed to be around.

She hugged the sheets tighter. Her mum would have had some speech for her. Advice for what to do in the situation she was in. She would have lectured her about sleeping with someone, sided with Anders before offering advice in how to repair the damage in the friendship. Then she might have hugged her.

But she was alone now. Her mother was across the galaxy and she was stuck. Natalia shut her eyes. The feelings Niha had given her had faded away long ago, probably even before Anders had started shouting at her. But the memories hadn’t come back yet. It hurt, probably more than she’d like to admit, that Anders was right.

It was a blow to her pride, or something. She needed to grow up, needed to get over herself. She couldn’t keep acting like a wide-eyed child.

“Ms Shaw?” Natalia rolled over, looking to the open door to see the Lieutenant. Slowly she sat up and nodded for him to enter. She knew he wouldn’t take the seat, just like she knew he’d only barely enter the room and give her a tight expression. “I’m here to discuss what will happen tomorrow.”

“With the Council,” she nodded. “Is this going to be instructions on what to and what not to say in the court, because I wouldn’t mind skipping the whole thing, staying in bed and just allowing them to make the decision without me.”

“That would end in your execution.”

Natalia blinked at him, “my execution?” she asked. “I-” she blinked. Everything happened at once. Images flew at her. She remembered crawling in the cave, running through the forest, the spider, the beasts, people shooting at her, the feeling of the gun as it went off in grip, running, hiding, screaming, Nico’s face, the car...it all hit her in an instant.

She gasped, falling backwards off the bed. Lieutenant Pike called for a nurse as he ran down and lifted her head up. She lay gaping at him, her eyes unadjusted as she tried to draw in a breath.

The nurses rushed in, pushing Pike out of the way before they grabbed a cylinder device and stuck it in her neck. There was a pinch before Natalia gasped, drawing in a breath at last. As soon as she relaxed, the nurses pulled away snorting. She might as well been a drug addict from those looks.

“Had a friend that went that way,” one of the muttered. “Poor girl, she must have had a lot of pain to have an attack that bad.” The other nurse shook her head, muttering a short reply as they left.

As Natalia drew in tight breaths, Pike’s eyes narrowed down at her before his emotions were quickly school.

“Zalahsenko,” he said tightly. Natalia looked away. “That explains Anders’ bad mood. You’re lucky that you’re an Earthling, if you were one of mine, I’d have hauled you down to isolation. Given that you _probably_ didn’t know that zalahsenko practicing is illegal, I’ll let you off with a warning.”

Natalia’s stomach dropped. “Illegal? I thought...it was like smoking.”

“Zalahsenko’s don’t ruin your lungs, Ms Shaw. If you were to have practiced with a young, inexperienced zalahsenko, you’d be dead on some alley way floor right now. They have to learn to control their hunger when they feed from you. They’re quite literally insatiable when it comes to taking life.”

Natalia felt her cheeks heat as she avoided his eyes. Shakily standing, she climbed back into the bed and licked her lips nervously.

“I’ll remember that,” she whispered.

“I’m surprised Anders didn’t break your nose. She must have had a shred of respect for you to not do that.” Natalia shrugged, pretending to not be bothered by his comment.

“I think it was the nurses standing around.”

“She’s been kicked out, dragged out, forced out by someone waving a stick of fire at her and banned from other places before, a hospital’s no different. No, she’s angry at you, but that will simmer down eventually.”

Natalia smiled faintly at Pike, “I think she’ll be angry for a long time.”

“If you’re referring to-”

“How big’s the chance that I’ll get executed?” Natalia interrupted. Pike carefully inspected her before pulling back, straightening his back and returning to his previous stance by the door.

“It’s low, but it’s a threat. The High Council, who you may have seen on the table when you were first there, is currently deciding the fate of those who were involved, no matter how small, in the Pandemonium incident. Before you ask, you will be called soon to make a statement with the High Council. Your statement is to be as _truthful_ as you can make it, am I clear? No wishy-washy story telling. No descriptions unless asked. No character voices. Nothing. Be direct and be brief.”

“Character voices?” Natalia repressed the scowl, “basically be emotionless, then?”

“No. Don’t try to be emotionless, that’ll make you sound like a sociopath.” Natalia scowled at him, “Just be brief and direct.”

Crossing her arms, she stuck her chin out and looked away from the lieutenant, “I got it. Is that everything?” Pike’s chest raised as he stared at the defiance in Natalia’s eyes. She didn’t want to deal with him or anyone at that point. He could probably tell that all she wanted to do was wallow in her misery and raise some sympathetic eyes.

“Don’t screw up. The Admiral _and_ Anders depend on you. If you fail, the Council will strip them of their title and send them home. The Admiral can handle that, but Anders can’t. Her whole life is the military now, it’s the only thing that keeps her moving forward. You screw this up Shaw and I’ll be _very_ unhappy.”

“I thought you didn’t like Shaw,” Natalia said, more surprised at his outburst than hurt by it.

“She’s annoying, stubborn and a troublemaker. However, she’s _mine_. I’ve been there when we’ve been in war. I’ve saved her life as much as she’s saved ours. I owe her, and I’ll make damn sure that you don’t screw it up because you two are having a spat.”

“Me? Why are you blaming me? There’s an entire _Council_ who wanted to execute me. I think people should stop pointing fingers because they can’t blame the real culprits. I haven’t done anything yet, and I won’t do anything wrong when the Council calls,” she told him hotly, “Because as mad as Anders is at me, I owe her and you know what, I actually _value_ her friendship and would very much like to repair it,” she glared.

“Good,” Pike pulled back, shoulders tight, spine tight in his previous stance as if they’d had nothing more than a polite chat about the room’s decor.

“ _Good_?”

 

“I needed to know that you wouldn’t let what happened between you and Anders get in the way of tomorrow. The Admiral’s job hangs on the balance.” Natalia blinked at him.

“Was all that ‘Anders’ stuff you talked about bullshit?”

“No. But the Admiral is more important. He’s the only person who can do his job as well as it needs to be done. The Council stripping him of his title would be a idiotic option, which is why I believe it will happen. The Council tends to get cocky in their power and need to get shaken, however without the loom of war, they’re become very comfortable in their seats. But a storm’s coming, and the Council with either fall or submit to the military.” Natalia blinked at him, eyes wide in horror, “Apologies, sometimes I forget I’m not with soldiers. It would be best for the both of us if you forgot that.”

“I’ll do my best,” she offered faintly. Pike gave a nod before pulling out a data-interface.

“The Council will also make judgement on the credibility of you story. From what I know, they’ve been analysing ‘evidence’ and have contacted someone to confirm your story.” He raised his eyebrows at that. “A Mrs Evangeline Swforza?”

Natalia’s stomach flipped uncertainly, “They contacted Eve?” she whispered. Her heart was beating loudly in her chest. “She’s okay then? She’s alive?” Natalia looked up at him.

“I’m uncertain about Mrs Swforza’s health or wellbeing, I just know that the Admiral was informed that someone would be attempting to call her.” Natalia’s shoulders dropped. It meant nothing. “Your results for the credibility of your story is unlikely to turn into be an execution, however there’s a sizeable chance that the Council will charge you for breaking the truce and forcing the military to enter the area.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you will never be allowed to return home. There will be choices you can make later and unfortunately, you are not in a state that I would wish to explain the upcoming choices. Instead, I wish to inform you that _if_ you were to try and escape then execution would be indefinite.” Natalia swallowed, nodding at him.

“Understood.”

“Good. I believe you are required to rest. Tomorrow morning someone will come with new clothes for you to wear. I suggest you present yourself cleanly because the media is having a field day over you. Especially now that you were dangling out of a crashed car-” someone cleared their throat behind Lieutenant Pike.

The lieutenant slowly turned, giving a sharp look towards the petite female. Pale yellow skin, big eyes with even bigger glasses and completely bald. Although, she was dressed in a pastel pink suit with a cream blouse, Natalia knew that seeing her was _not_ a good sign as soon as the lieutenant grimaced.

“Ma’am,” he said shortly.

The woman ignored him, pulled on a pair of latex gloves and smiled at Natalia, “dearie, please hold out your hands.” Natalia’s mouth parted open to resist before Pike’s eyes landed on hers. Skeptically, she laid her hands open for the woman who promptly sprayed them before running an ultra-violet light.

“As I thought,” she tutted. “It’s such a shame to see the youth go down this path,” she sighed, looking more pleased than anything. Natalia looked up confused, only to see Pike’s expression. He knew what this meant and he wasn’t happy about it. “Ms Shaw, you’re under arrest for the murder of Santengo Nico,” the detective said with a smirk.

“I- what?” Natalia fumbled, “No, I-”

“Shaw,” Pike barked. Natalia went quiet and watched as the detective pulled out a white, plastic looking _thing_. They were placed over her wrists and with a sharp _snap,_ they immediately glowed orange and became electrically painful on her wrists. Natalia shrugged and felt them grown tighter at the movement. Horrified she looked down at the cuffs.

“The less you struggle, the less they’ll pinch,” the woman said as she snapped her gloves off.

“W-what happens now?” Natalia asked, looking up.

“You’ll come with me,” the woman smiled viscously, her pointed teeth glinting in the light. Natalia’s stomach rolled. She went to complain against the fairness of the situation before Pike eyed her to keep quiet. Biting her tongue, she squashed the desire to run and instead, allowed herself to be yanked off the bed.

“This way to the station,” the detective said, pointing where a large amount of people seemed to be talking. Natalia eyed the reception wearily from the hallway before she followed the detective out through the main doors, into the room. At once, everyone seemed to jump up and take blinding photos.

Natalia gasped, only just seeing flashes as she realised that the media had caught wind of what had happened. Her eyes looked to the detective, she couldn’t see the woman’s face, but she walked proudly.

“Ms Shaw!” “Ms Shaw!” “Natalia is it true-” “Ms Shaw, are you in league with-” “Has the Military been-” “Are you part of an ongoing experiment-” “what is your relationship with-”

Natalia dropped her head, keeping her eyes on the pink skirt as she followed with a limp. The words echoed the room, lights flashed and white small vidbots floated around the crowd, clustering around to get a better look at her.

She knew she looked awful. Her red hair was unkempt, though at least it was washed, she looked exhausted and she was padding behind the detective, cuffed, in a hospital gown.

Natalia turned her head, blinking at the lights to see Pike’s furious expression before she was suddenly pulled by the detective to keep up.

“Come on dearie, you shouldn’t let the media see you like this,” the detective smirked before they slid into the elevator. Only then did Natalia notice the brightly pink painted nails the woman clasped over her white handbag.

Natalia scowled as the doors shut, “You’re the one that called them. I can see it all over your face.” The woman, unaffected by Natalia’s comment, pulled out a compact and lightly touched-up her make-up. Natalia watched her. She’d never seen a detective like her before. The ones on Earth were big, burly men and women who either slouched around eating and drinking or were on the streets scanning for crimes they could get a bribe for.

This woman was _pink_ , she looked more like a weather reporter, or a goblin.

The elevator doors slid open where an even large crowd of the media seemed to be. The detective gave a last touch to her make up before she pulled the both of them through the crowd wordlessly, dragging Natalia behind by the cuffs as the media furiously took photos, filmed and badgered them with questions.

“Did you really kill a soldier, a drinking friend, in cold blood?” One asked. Natalia’s head whipped around to face a young man who looked eager at her expression and pushed the microphone closer to her face. Her balled fists by her side clenched as she looked down at the microphone before she rose her eyes to look back at the man.

Human with olive skin, dark eyes and hair that was tinted with blond through it. The man was dressed in a suit and had no qualms about asking the question. Natalia felt rage.

“Fuck you,” she said, looking dead in the man’s eyes before violently been ripped away before she could throw a punch. Natalia growled at her. The detective, over the noise, didn’t seem to even hear her before they walked through the doors of a short, two story building, leaving the media outside as someone _finally_ came to hold them back. Natalia scanned the room. White, clean with a single large office space where two young, thin men sat typing on a VI.

“I’ve brought in Natalia Shaw,” the detective said sugary sweet, looking down at the first boy. He looked up at her, blinked and then typed on the VI’s keyboard before directing her to the third interrogation room.

Natalia’s stomach rolled at the word as she was dragged into the interrogation room and forced to sit down onto the chair.

“Aren’t you supposed to read me my rights?” Natalia demanded.

“Rights? dearie, you’re under the suspicion of murder. Right now you have no ‘rights’.” Natalia paled at the comment before watching the woman walk around and fix the cuffs, handcuffing her to the chair’s arms. “I’ll need to sign you in. When your told to,” she flicked a button, pulling up a VI on the metal table in front of Natalia. “Recite your ‘story’ about what happened around 9p.m. yesterday evening. Please note that any lies can be detected and consequences _will_ happen.” The woman left and Natalia began to panic.

“ _Natalia Del Shaw, eighteen and seven months. Previous history: Arrested for thievery: charges were dropped. Arrested for solicitation; charges were dropped. Arrested for the suspicion of murdering Union Military Soldier, Santengo Nico, age twenty-two. Charges are currently being processed.”_ The machine had pulled out the files of both her and Nico onto the screen before going black and pulling up a blank document. “ _Please begin your statement.”_

 

Natalia blinked at it before beginning. “I went to...no, ah. Where do I start?” No reply. Swallowing, she fumbled, “I-I’ll start earlier. After the Council meeting, Anders...Raina Anders that is, wanted me to relax and meet some of the others before we went back to the ship.” As Natalia continued reciting the story to the closet detail she could manage, the computer wrote up the statement with surprising accuracy.

Finding herself fumbling over her words as she watched them appear on the screen, Natalia took to looking at the handcuffs and shivering at the cold room. She wasn’t dressed to withstand the room’s temperature.

When she finished, Natalia took a breath, “that’s it. That’s all I remember. After that there were lights, probably the paramedics, and I remember people talking, but nothing else.” The chair buzzed lightly and Natalia looked down as a needle came out. “What the hell is that?” she demanded before the needle stuck in her arm.

Gasping at he sharp pain, Natalia watched as blood was removed from her vein. The needle then seemed to slide back into the chair. Natalia craned her neck to look on either side of the thick chair to understand what happened. All she could work out was that the chair was welded to the ground, potentially so devices could be inside of it like that needle.

The door opened before Natalia could do anything. Looking up, she glared at the detective. “Your chair bit me,” she told her with a snarl, “and it stole my blood.”

“It tends to do that. Blood work was needed,” she smirked at her. “Your case will be used against you tomorrow in the court. Usually the Court doesn’t deal with such…common matters like this, but it seems that with everything else, this adds to whatever they’re judging you for.”

Natalia’s eyes narrowed at how pleased the woman looked, “what’s your problem with me? I haven’t done anything to you.”

“No, _you_ haven’t. However, I received an anonymous tip about you and I really do like it when justice wins.” Natalia tried not to growl at her. “Now, let’s see. Yes. Being that you’re an important person you’ll get your own cell. How _lucky_ ,” she purred. A shudder ran down Natalia’s spine. The woman repulsed her, from her flowery scent to the way she smiled.

“I’m honoured.”

“You should be. Most common criminals, such as murders, are all placed into the one holding cell for overnight process. Being that you’re _special_ and currently still under military protection, it seems that you’re allowed a room to yourself for the night.” She walked over and fixed the cuffs before leading her up.

She was pulled through the door again, handcuffed in front of her as she was lead down a hall. Natalia found it smarter to keep her mouth shut rather than say a word that could get her into any further trouble with the detective. The woman seemed to be waiting for her to speak out of line and grinned every time Natalia almost opened her mouth to speak, the woman grinned and waited until she shut her mouth again.

“This one’s yours,” she said, opening up a door. It was a small room, big enough to fit a toilet, a sink and a bed. There was no windows except for the one on the door. Before Natalia could turn to ask for anything, the door slammed shut behind her, and locks slid into place. The handcuffs unlocked, falling to the ground useless before they began to melt.

Well, that was new. Natalia stepped back, watching it turn into a puddle of nothing.

The jail cell was cold, but warmer than the interrogation room and she was thankful for that. Slowly she walked to the bed and touched the blanket. It was thin material, itchy but it could be worse.

Natalia looked down at the hospital gown she wore and took in a slow breath and sat down on the bed. She didn’t even understand what had happened. It was only a few hours ago that she’d been laying underneath a woman. Now, Anders was pissed at her, the Council would take this situation as reason to disbelieve her creditability and she was arrested for murder.

“This is bullshit.”

 


	13. Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The endings and the new beginnings as the trial gives Natalia her results.

13.

Natalia adjusted the shirt uncomfortably as she looked down at the Council. In the row of seats, separate from the Council’s section, that sat in a semi circle in front of her, Natalia saw the Admiral, the Lieutenant, Anders, the detective and a wide variety of other people, some of which she’s sure were part of the media.

“The statement of Ms Shaw appears to be believable,” one council member stated. “Detective T’Roilin, you wished to push separate evidence forward?” The detective grinned, stepping down the stairs, she walked across the floor to a small platform that stood beside Natalia. The platform was much closer to the ground, rising only four step high.

“I believe that Ms Shaw lied,” the detective said, her teeth gleaming in the light as she side-eyed her briefly, “the woman stated that the gun went off twice, and yet no bullets could be found in the wreckage of the car to prove this. She also stated that the driver shot Mr Nico, however the driver was conveniently removed from the crime scene.”

“Wouldn’t the wound prove that I couldn’t have done it?” Natalia asked, “I would have been at the wrong angle and distance to shoot him?”

“Ms Shaw, please.” Natalia grimaced. Speaking out of turn was bad. Really bad.

“No, no, it’s quite all right,” the detective smiled.” You could have quite easily manoeuvred yourself to the front of the car,” the detective replied. “Without knowing what exactly happened in the car, it’s very easy to assume that Ms Shaw is part of some verokin espionage. Mr Nico probably got in the way of this and found out her secret, much like Ms Rivera who also has amnesia of the events that happened.”

“That’s bullshit,” Anders shouted out. Natalia stared, her stomach easing as Anders defended her.

“Does Ms Raina Anders wish to take the stand as the defensive?” Someone from the High Council asked.

Natalia watched as the Lieutenant briefly said something to her before Anders shot him a dirty look and stalked down to where the detective was. “Yes I do, and it’ll be quick. Natalia Shaw is _not_ part of the verokin espionage you just made up. I took Natalia to the Pandemonium and as some of you might know, a verokin guards the door. Natalia nearly shat herself when she saw him and all but fainted until he let us pass.”

The detective scoffed, “perhaps she thought they might blow her cover.” Anders snorted at the sheer stupidity of the comment.

“Another thing: before you mentioned that Kelly Rivera ‘conveniently’ had amnesia, just fucking state it next time. You think Natalia _somehow_ managed to knock Kelly in _just_ the right place with right amount of force – which, if you ask me, sounds extremely improbable. Kelly was hit in the head and suffered damage, I think _drugs_ would be a far easier way to ensure amnesia than hoping that a slam to a mirror will work.”

“Perhaps she slipped something into Ms Rivera’s drink,” the detective counted.

“Bullshit, _I_ served the drinks as Red- Natalia, sat awkwardly in her chair. She didn’t touch the bottle and I’m _sure_ there’s video proof of that. Besides, when Kelly had blood drawn, it would have come up with drugs if any had been used.”

“Only if you’re looking for them, for all you know she could have masked it and it’s too late now to check.” Anders was fuming and resisting the urge to turn the fight into a physical one. The detective smiled at her.

“Explain to me _how_ Kelly or Nico would have even discovered anything about Natalia and then both of them let her know they knew. They’re soldiers _detective_ , they know stealth, especially Nico, and they know what to do when they have information,” her eyes narrowed. “ _If_ Natalia had been a part of some ‘great’ verokin espionage, I highly doubt that Nico or Kelly would have managed to be as stupid as to get caught.”

“They would have been surprised, a friend-”

“They each knew her for an hour. Friend or not, we’re trained soldiers detective. No, you know what, this is bullshit. If the Council charges Natalia over this then they’re _far_ stupider then I ever thought and nothing can save Natalia,” she gave a final glare and stalked off back to her seat and noisily sat down, fuming as she glared down at the detective.

Natalia swallowed awkwardly. Anders was trying to help but she was pretty sure that insulting the Council was not the best way to go at it. In fact, it seemed like the odds were stacking up higher against her.

The Council, displeased at Anders, dismissed the detective. “Without further evidence, the Council holds Natalia under the suspicion of murder.” Natalia sighed, shoulders falling slack. It seemed like nothing new had happened. Sulking, she leaned over the bannister and continued to look down. Again, she adjusted the shirt as the Council began to rattle off something else about her. She was tired, she hadn’t be able to sleep much the night before.

Shutting her eyes briefly, she stretched her body and repressed a yawn in case anyone thought she was bored.

“...Mrs Swforza confirmed the story.” Natalia almost jumped at the name and had to clamp her jaw down on her tongue to stop from shouting out. She watched as one of the High Council members read from his data-interface, “Mrs Swforza stated that the two had been having an affair for the course of the year and that she’d wanted to take Ms Shaw to see the stars. Halfway through their evening, the two were interrupted by slave drivers who took both Ms Shaw and herself, mistaking them for their monthly collecting of ‘slaves’. Ms Swforza, when her husband found out, was promptly returned unharmed though she believed Ms Shaw to be dead.”

Natalia gaped down. Evangeline was alive, well and she _confirmed_ the story. Staring down with wide-eyes, she felt her stomach loosen with relief. Then glow warmly. Evangeline. She’d thought she was dead. She didn’t know. Maybe… _maybe._

“She confirmed it,” Natalia whispered softly with a large smile. “She…”

“With the evidence, Ms Shaw’s tale has been confirmed true.” Relief flushed her system as she whispered a quick prayer to whoever had saved her. “However, in light of this new evidence, Ms Natalia Shaw cannot be allowed to return to Earth.”

“What?” she shouted. The Council all looked up at her, some narrowing their eyes at the readings interruption. “Sorry, I mean...why can’t I go home?”

“You have been exposed to too much of this galaxy. Returning to Earth would upset the the careful balance that had been installed for the future of mankind. If you were to return, a rebellion would outbreak. At this time, the Council has classified you dangerous, under such terms, you can not live anywhere with a population raised over ten thousand until the threat of the verokin beast has been subdued. Also, you will not be allowed to live upon a planet’s surface until further evidence is provide.”

“Why don’t you kill the beast?” Natalia demanded. “It’s causing more harm then good!”

“I’m sorry Ms Shaw. The Council has determined that the area is _off limits_ unless help is requested. Regardless of the stunt you pulled, the truce remains in place with the verokin mineworkers in the area.”

“But why am I...why can’t I stay on a planet?” she felt her body become weak, shaking as she began to understand just how bad the situation she was now placed in was.

“You’ve been charged of murder. Until undeniable evidence arises proving that you did not kill Mr Santengo Nico, than you are not allowed to live on a planet, nor will you be granted citizen rights.”

“What are citizen rights?”

“You can not own property, and only jobs with a classification allowing individuals under the charge of murder will be allowed.” Natalia’s mouth fell open.

“W-what jobs are that?” Unshakeable fear tightened her stomach. She already got the sense that she knew what her outcome would be. She couldn’t own a house, live on a land. She had lost everything by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“I’m sorry Ms Shaw, that’s not our area. This meeting is adjourned until further evidence can be put forward, Ms Shaw’s security with the military is broken and all evidence provided shows that no one, but Ms Shaw, appears to be at fault.” Natalia shook her head wildly. She was unprotected. Unsafe and soon she’d be forced off the Hub.

“Where do I go?” She shouted.

“I’m sorry Ms Shaw,” a council member spoke as the others began to arise and file out of the room, “that’s now our jurisdiction. If you request leave of the station you may speak with immigration.” Natalia nodded dumbly as the man left. The only way she could get out of the situation was to kill the beast and _then_ prove who murdered her.

Or wait until the cycle turned over and she was no longer marked. But she wasn’t even sure if that was yearly, monthly...perhaps it was only weekly and it was all over? No, even she knew it wasn’t that.

Natalia shook her head and stumbled down the corridor, holding onto the wall to help her walk before she bursted out a doorway and found herself face-to-face with the Admiral.

“Sir?” she found herself whispering, “ah...how can I help you?”

“I read the statement. I appreciate you not mentioning Ms Anders anger and stating that she merely ‘directed Nico’ to take you back to the ship for safekeeping. Due to that, I believe I owe you gratitude.”

Natalia frowned. Her mind was foggy, still in shock over what happened. “Excuse me, but I don’t think I understand. I mean...I just told it like it happened. I didn’t really... _think_.”

The man smiled, “if you had mentioned Ms Anders anger directed towards you they would have believed she’d been emotionally conflicted and her decision was made with poor judgement. However, you had mentioned nothing of Ms Anders feeling and in result, lead the Council to believe that Ms Anders had made the best decision she could.”

“She did though,” Natalia replied, “I mean, even though she was pissed at me, it was the right decision.”

“Yes.”

“I...okay,” Natalia didn’t argue and shook her head. “No thanks needed, honestly. I was just...as I said before, I didn’t really think about it, I just kind of recited my statement and the VI wrote it down before it took my blood,” she narrowed her eyes and unconsciously rubbed her arm. “I think I’ve had more blood taken from me these last few weeks than I’ve ever lost my whole life.”

“You’re a survivor, Ms Shaw. You don’t give up.”

Natalia’s lips pulled back in an awkward smile. It wasn’t true. She wanted to give up plenty of times. It seemed easier than dealing with all of this. Niha was a great example at how she just wanted to give it all up, even now she felt tempted to return. “Thanks,” she finally replied. She stared at him for a few moments before stepping forward. “There’s not a...a chance for me, is there? To join the military?”

“I’m afraid not. Your record would blacklist you.”

“But I’m innocent. If I can just _prove_ that, could I join? Enlist, that is?”

He breathed in, shoulders squaring. “I would advise you didn’t, Ms Shaw. Regardless of the accident, a good soldier died looking after you. Another was hurt. People don’t take kind to rumours such as this. My advice for you would be to prove your innocence and find a new start.”

Natalia’s stomach dropped. Swallowing, she felt as though his words had struck her throat. “Okay,” she smiled, blinking quickly. Stepping backwards, she tried to find her ground again. “I’ll...I’ll try that.”

“I am sorry, Ms Shaw. But this is a difficult situation.” She didn’t reply, nodding so he wouldn’t hear her voice crackle. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to speak with Lieutenant Pike about a job opening.” He gave a last smile at her before leaving.

Natalia stared after him. Shaking her head, she sniffed back the tears and steadied herself. She wouldn’t be left a sobbing mess after all that’s happened. She was better than that, dammit.

“Hey, so...that was pretty brutal,” Thane said, appearing. Natalia jumped wiping her face before she turned to face him. Williams appeared beside him and nodded. It took a few moments to realise that they were talking about the court case and not the Admiral.

“Oh, yeah. But Anders stuck up for me. That...that meant a lot, actually.”

“Don’t read too much in it.” Anders said, she stepped forward beside her boys, placing a hand onto her hip. “I’m still pissed about you being too naive for your own good. I’ll tell you though, do it again and I’ll be more than pissed.” Natalia stared into the green eyes, there was no doubt in her head that Anders would keep to her word.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Anders smirked, giving a sharp nod before she flicked her hair over her shoulder and cast a look to the Admiral. “So, I heard what he said. Rough, but there are other jobs.”

“Like what?”

Anders eyes slid to hers again. “Up here? Not much, janitorial duties, minor part time work. Stuff no one else wants so they’re pretty desperate. There are a few factory stations you can get put on…” she stopped, watching as Natalia began to blink. “Look, they’ll find some proof, it’s just going to take time, after that it’s just matter of getting through immigration.”

“Who will? There’s probably a thousand crimes happening here, I doubt they’ll find out.” Natalia stepped back, crossing her arms. She wouldn’t cry, she refused to fucking cry. “This is bullshit. Even if...even if I have some bad karma for sleeping with someone’s wife, I don’t deserve this!”

Williams shrugged awkwardly, even Thane looked away.

“Suck it up,” Anders said. “Make do with what you got. People have it a lot worse than you.”

“Fuck you,” Natalia bit, “I lived on Earth.”

“So then, this is still a step up then? You were some call centre girl there, right? Go do that here. At least you’ll have a better life. You won’t die from a paper-cut infection.”

“And my family? My _mum_? When do I get to see her?”

Anders shrugged. “What do you want me to say, I’m sorry this crap happened to you, well I am but sorry doesn’t change it. Suck it up, move on and don’t whine about how much it sucks to be you. If you want a difference go and make it!”

“I want to go home, I want-” she cut off, not finishing the words, but Anders face darkened.

“Evangeline right? What did you think was going to happen, did you thinking that after your rich sugar momma called, you might go back and run into her arms. Pretend that this never happened?” Natalia flushed at Anders words. “Unless she comes here, she can’t look after you, princess, so I suggest that you start working.” Anders turned around and left before Natalia could utter another word.

“Don’t worry about her,” Williams said quickly as Natalia stared at the retreating form. “She’s still pissed about the detective. She needs to burn off some energy before she’s calm enough to have a civil conversation with. Wait until you catch her smoking or playing cards with the crew.”

“You guys?” she asked. Williams shook his head.

“There’s a little over a hundred people on the ship,” he corrected, “there’s the captain, the tech, the cooks, engine, maintenance...even the pilot, but _she_ doesn’t really count.”

“The pilot doesn’t count?” Natalia became confused. Wondering if she was mechanical or something. “Isn’t she a real person?”

“She’s...it’s…” Williams trailed off and looked at Thane for words.

“You have to see her to understand,” Thane finished. “It’s pretty cool, or creepy depending on how you look at it.” Natalia was only puzzled further by their words. “She’s a part of the ship, we’ll show you sometime...but not now.”

“You’re speaking as if this isn’t the end.”

“It’s not,” Williams said. “We’ll come back, this is the Hub, Red. Look, we make a pretty regular check in. About every six months or so. It’s on the board anyway. Just check ‘incoming traffic’ and come visit, we’ll stick to the same bar...and who knows.”

“Yeah, who knows,” Thane smiled. “Look, we have to go, but the lieutenant wants to speak with you. So, catch you late, alright?” Natalia turned and looked to where the lieutenant was. The Admiral was nowhere in sight.

“Catch you later,” she smiled. Thane and Williams hugged her both before leaving. There was an odd sensation in the pit of her stomach that told her she wasn’t going to see them again. Any of them. Before she could stumble, Natalia turned back to where the lieutenant was. Taking a breath, she slowly walked over to him. His expression, as usual, was unreadable.

Awkwardly, she flicked to the stone statue beside him of the different Alien races before meeting his eyes.

“This is the end, isn’t it?”

The lieutenant handed her a data-interface. “There’s a list of places I would suggest you check out. They’ll lead you to different space stations, most of which you’ll find similar to Earth.”

“What about home? Is there anyway I can get my mum?”

“I’m afraid that’s a complicated issue. You may be able to make an appeal to speak with the council again, but unless you manage to somehow gain your citizen rights-”

“Is that possible?” she asked, “can I gain them without proving my innocence?”

“I’m afraid not, Ms Shaw. Not unless you somehow managed to save a Council member’s child or something extraordinary, even then you’d have to persuade the other members.” Natalia’s shoulders dropped, her eyes looked to the lieutenant's feet. Of course it was impossible, why would her life be easy. “Ms Shaw, I am not your guardian, but I do suggest you remove yourself from this place and work at another, smaller space station.”

“Why?”

“Areas such as these tend to grow large underground areas. Dangerous people offering dangerous jobs. You’d do well to avoid those people.”

“Not allowed here anyway. There’s more than ten-thousand people.” Natalia shrugged, what did it matter. “I just want to go home,” she said. “And I can’t, so…”

“Don’t risk your life because it seems over. You have the ability to do great things, Ms Shaw. You just need to be patient.” Natalia nodded, mulling over the words. But before she could lift her head and reply, he’d left.

She was alone in a crowded hall. Staring awkwardly at the surrounding area. Crying didn’t bite at her this time. There was a hold on her emotions, a wall holding it back and all she could do was feel the dull apathy slip over. She thought of Evangeline, of her mum and Koala. Then she thought of Anders and what Williams had said about them returning. They were just being nice, she figured. Who would want to be friends with the girl who basically hurt one team member and killed another?

Sitting down on a bench, she looked down at her hands, remembering the data-interface. The screen flicked on, files coming up. Each one linked to different places. A folder for shelters, a folder for free medical places, a folder for out-of-work and a folder for immigration to other places.

But there was nothing for her to go home, to find home. She had no money, no food and only the clothes on her back.

Natalia clamped down on the wall inside her, and rose, stuffing the data-interface back into her pocket. She began to walk outside before someone grabbed her. “Hey-!”

Tall, big and green was the first thing she noticed. Then vibrant green skin, red hair like hers and a great big smile. “Sorry,” the emerald woman said, letting go. “I was sent by someone to pick you up.”

“You were?”

“I was supposed to meet you outside of here,” she said, “about twenty minutes ago, but I got lost, sorry. I’m Sena.”

“Sena,” Natalia tasted the word, nodding, “Sorry, I’m Natalia.” The woman had a long thin nose, a wide jaw and iris’ the same colour as her skin. She was peculiar looking, but the smile was warm. “Who sent you?”

“The Council did. I’m just here to take you into custody.”

Natalia felt like she couldn’t breathe. The prison’s smell filling her nostrils again. “Into-”

“No, no. Not like that! Goodness no. I mean I’m supposed to take you into immigration. Sorry, I mean _my_ custody. I’m your…” she took a breath, running her fingers through the red hair. “I’m apparently the person messing this up completely. Sorry.”

Natalia swallowed, shook her head and felt the familiar tremble. The emotional blockage had a great big crack in it from her terror and suddenly, she began to cry. Big heavy sobs. Slapping a hand over her mouth she shook her head, trying to apologise as her eyes squeezed shut. Natalia panicked, _dammit, this isn’t fair!_

“Oh goodness, I’m sorry, so, so sorry!” The woman stepped forward, stepped back then awkwardly reached out to touch Natalia’s shoulder. Seeing that she didn’t rip away, Sena slowly stepped forward again and wrapped her up in a hug. “It’s okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” Natalia breathed in, feeling herself relax enough to think. Sena was warm, and her skin felt like it was humming.

“It-it’s not that,” Natalia said, shaking her head. Sniffing, she tried not to cry, but her jaw kept clenching and her mouth was peeling back as the sobs kept hiccuping out. It was horrible, and embarrassing. “E-everything’s gone to h-hell.”

“Take deep breaths, just...oh, ah, think of yumkins?”

“Yumkins?” her voice stretched. Sena stepped back.

“They’re...you’ve never heard of yumkins?” She reached into her pocket, pulling out a wide, flat phone and showed her a picture. “This is my yumkin, his name’s Lo.” Natalia stared at the picture. It was a great _orange_ fur ball of a creature with big blue eyes and bigger ears. Tiny hands with small claws. It looked a bit like Koala and a lot like a teddy bear, but all different kinds of strange.

“That’s really cute…” she said, sniffing awkward.

“It is, isn’t it?” She reached into her pocket, pulling out a tissue. “I’m sorry about making you cry.”

“No, it’s okay. It’s just been a long time. I miss home.” She took the tissue gladly, cleaning her face up from the mucus and tears. Smiling again, she mumbled her thanks before awkwardly staring at the floor. “So...what happens now?”

“Now?” Sena blinked, “oh! Right, shuttle. We’re getting a shuttle across this tier over to the other side. Immigration is near some coffee shops and I think you could do with a hot drink, right?”

“I...I don’t have any money.”

“Oh no, I didn’t mean...no, I just- I’ll buy. It’s okay. Sorry.”

“You don’t have to say sorry,” Natalia smiled. Sena laughed.

“I do say it a lot, don’t I? Sorry about that.” Leading her outside, she flicked through her phone, frowning. “If I’d been here on time we could have caught the shuttle leaving ten minutes ago. Well, I guess we’ll wait. Sometimes there’s another shuttle that runs. Or I guess we could take the train.”

“How long do we have to wait?”

“Not long.” She lifted her head up, pocketing her phone. “Love the hair, by the way.”

“Oh,” Natalia touched her hair, smiling. “I like yours too. Makes your skin look like emeralds.”

Sena smiled. “You’re just adorable. I like you.”

Outside was just a flat surface with buildings. Roads didn’t exist, but trees had been planted here and there. The shuttle Sena meant, Natalia assumed, was like one of the taxi cabs, but able to carry fifty or so people. From the one taking off just then, Natalia could see that it flew above and around this level of the Hub. The train, however, hung from a railing that lead in-between buildings in a series of networks. To get up, there was a staircase that lead to where the train stopped.

“Let’s take the train,” Sena decided. She began to run up the stairs quickly, two-by-two. Natalia followed, grasping to the stairs’ railing as she climbed up. The train pulled to a stop in front of the crowd on top of the stairs and everyone piled in.

Inside was exactly the same as the trains on earth, except cleaner. However, there was a sign, written in multiple languages, Natalia assumed, with a picture of a finger to lips. “What does that say?”

“Quiet carriage next door, you’re not allowed to speak or really do anything except quietly read your DI. Which is better than the silent carriage. You cough in there and everyone glares at you.” Natalia looked around, everyone was already quietly doing their own thing as it was. She didn’t understand why a quiet carriage was needed as well. “Come on, let’s take a seat.”

“So what will I be doing at immigration?”

“Discussing your options. As you’re someone who’s come from another planet not with the AU, you’ll need to do a twelve-week program so you understand the rules and regulations of the Aligned Union. For future reference, that’s just the fancy name for the people who set up the rules that go across the board of most planets; equal rights, fair pay, et cetera.”

“The government.”

“To a degree. They’re an intergalactic governmental organisation. The planets, and their space stations, all have treaties with AU and they follows their laws. Within that, they have their own laws. And then there are countries, states, territories. It’s all very confusing, but so far it seems to work.”

Natalia thought on the verokins and the peace held between them. “There’s a war coming,” she said.

“Well of course there is. Many of the planets are at war with each other. It’s normal. Sometimes the AU steps in but usually-”

“No, there’s a war coming. A galactic war,” Natalia said. “The verokins-”

“Oh. Them. No, they’re busy with their own issues. We have a peace treaty with them anyway,” she shrugged. “Anyway, this talk of war is dark, why don’t I explain what the immigration process is?”

Natalia didn’t think the conversation had touched on darker themes, but she shut her mouth obediently and listened as Sena explained the twelve week program, followed by the immigrations process. She was going to be given a social worker who would help her choose and find a job. She would then be offered a share house with others in her situation, and there would be follow-ups to make sure she’s obeying the rules set.

That and to make sure she didn’t plan on committing suicide any time soon. Apparently the penalty for attempted suicide was pretty high _and_ it was a debt that carried on to families (if the person had a family).

“So my mum?”

“Would receive the debt, yes. Even though Earth is not part of UA, it is under human law, and because you are the child of her, well, you can see how this is going.”

Natalia she her eyes, refusing to react. “Right,” she said, gritting her teeth.

“It’s a very simple process, you’ll fall right into the swing of things soon and- Oh this is our stop.” Sena jumped up and began rushing out the doors before Natalia could comprehend what she’d said.

Slowly, Natalia rose as well, hesitating only briefly as she wondered how easy it would be to just stay on board and go somewhere else. Reason kicked in and she realised that she had nowhere else to go. Taking another step, then another, she followed Sena out of the doors, down the steps and climbed down to the ground again. The area looked almost the same as where she’d been before. The shuttle station only five hundred metres to her right.

“Here,” Sena said, pointing to the building. Natalia stared up at the stone and glass tower. It was tall, grey and ugly in her opinion. But she followed the emerald woman inside obediently. Grey carpet and printed pictures of flowers lined the wall before she was lead into a small waiting room with one other person and three other chairs. “Just, err, stay here while I go and organise everything.”

Natalia sat down and watched as Sena rushed back into the hall, down further to where Natalia assumed her office was.

“Nice hair,” someone commented. A man, Natalia realised, looking at him. Blue hair, black eyes and dark skin. “You don’t look the usual suspects. Where are you from?”

“Earth.”

“Oh, you’re the girl that was hanging out of the car,” he grinned, flashing white teeth. Natalia nodded. “What are you doing here?”

“Immigrating.”

He snorted. “Just starting off, I take it? Good luck with that. Twelve week program before you even get a bed. They give you protein meals at least. And a cold shower.”

Natalia stomach turned. “What are you doing here?”

“Providing documents to show that I’ve fully immigrated here. Means I get my microchip removed.” he smiled.

“You have a microchip?”

“Yeah. Didn’t they tell you? You get one too. So you’ll be monitored constantly, make sure you’re not doing a single thing out of line. One wrong thing and you’re off to prison.” Natalia swallowed dryly. On earth, prisoners were experimented on. Only the really unlucky and the worst were put into jail, but it still didn’t sit right with her.

She didn’t want to be a prisoner, but being microchipped, monitored, told to do this and that. Follow their rules. Well. “Isn’t that kind of like being a prisoner, anyway?” she asked.

“They allow you to go to work, and come back to the shelter you’ll be given. That’s all you’ll need to do. For the first few weeks it’s fine,” he shrugged. “Once you’ve payed off your expenses you’re done.”

“Paid off my expenses?” Natalia asked.

“What? You didn’t think this was government supplied, did you? That’s why it’s so difficult to get out. People spend two years trying to pay of their debts, sometimes more.”

“Two years? But...but I’m innocent! They said-”

“Immigration is the same for everyone who comes. Felon or not. You just got the short end of the stick is all,” the man sighed, stretching his arms. Natalia watched as he then dug into his pocket and pulled out a white card, handing it out for her. “I tell you what, if you decide the twelve week program isn’t to you’re liking, or the job they provide you with pays pretty crappy, call Veetah’Saey, the good doc will see if you’re worth the trouble.”

“Worth the trouble for what?”

“A job,” he said, laughing. “They start you off easy; pick ups, drop offs in the local vicinity. Work hard enough and you’ll get good money. Get to see the universe. It’s a way to expand the limits of your microchip. If you choose to immigrate, that is.”

“The universe?” Natalia asked, suddenly interested. “Any chance of going to Earth?”

“Earth?” he blinked. Frowning her though over it. “Not sure. Could do. They go all over looking for things here and there. Mostly dropping off food.” Natalia clung to the card, looking over the number. “Why are you helping me?”

“You think this is me helping you?” he snorted, shaking his head. “Anyway, my number’s up. I’ll catch you later maybe.” With that, he offered Natalia a wink and left. The entire situation was surreal, but she was left with a card in her hand and hope that she could get back to Earth.

“Hey!” Sena said smiling, leaning against the doorframe. “Oh, where did Meena go?”

Natalia blinked. “He said his number was up.”

Sena frowned, looking out of the hallway before she sighed. “He didn’t talk to you or anything, did he?”

Natalia opened her mouth, and thought better of her answer. “No, why?”

“He’s trouble, that’s all. He shouldn’t be here.”

“He said he was finalising his immigration process.” Sena frowned, shaking her head. “I take it he’s not doing that then?” Natalia’s hand clamped over the card, wondering if it’d all been some trick.

“I don’t know what he does, but he hangs around here. Sorry, I shouldn’t have put you in the same room as him but I was running late.” She smiled at Natalia, nodding her head down the hall. “Come on, I’ll begin the process. We need to get you microchipped- but don’t worry, it’s just a thing to keep you safe and all.”

“Actually…” Natalia asked. “Could I use the bathroom first, before we begin?”


	14. Immigration

14.

Natalia adjusted the shirt uncomfortably as she looked down at the Council. In the row of seats, separate from the Council’s section that sat in a semi circle in front of her, Natalia saw the Admiral, the Lieutenant, Anders, the detective and a wide variety of other people, some of which she was sure were part of the media.

“The statement of Ms Shaw appears to be believable,” one council member stated. “Detective T’Roilin, you wished to push separate evidence forward?” The detective grinned, stepping down the stairs, she walked across the floor to a small platform that stood beside Natalia. The platform sat lower to the ground, rising only four step high.

“I believe that Ms Shaw lied,” the detective said, her teeth gleaming in the light as she side-eyed her briefly, “the woman stated that the gun went off twice, however no bullets could be found in the wreckage of the car to prove this. She also stated that the driver shot Mr Nico, and yet the driver was conveniently removed from the crime scene.”

“Wouldn’t the wound prove that I couldn’t have done it?” Natalia asked, “I would have been at the wrong angle and distance to shoot him?”

“Ms Shaw, please.” Natalia grimaced. Speaking out of turn was bad. Really bad.

“No, no, it’s quite all right,” the detective smiled.” You could have quite easily manoeuvred yourself to the front of the car,” the detective replied. “Without knowing what exactly happened in the car, it’s very easy to assume that Ms Shaw is part of some verokin espionage. Mr Nico probably got in the way of this and found out her secret, much like Ms Rivera who also has convenient amnesia of the events that happened.”

“That’s bullshit,” Anders shouted out. Natalia stared, her stomach easing as Anders defended her.

“Does Ms Raina Anders wish to take the stand as the defensive?” Someone from the High Council asked.

Natalia watched as the Lieutenant briefly said something to her before Anders shot him a dirty look and stalked down to where the detective was. “Yes I do, and it’ll be quick. Natalia Shaw is _not_ part of the verokin espionage you just made up. I took Natalia to the Pandemonium and as some of you might know, a verokin guards the door. Natalia nearly shat herself when she saw him and all but fainted until he let us pass.”

The detective scoffed, “perhaps she thought they might blow her cover.” Anders snorted. The comment was so stupid. Natalia bit back a comment, trying not to smile as Anders argued on her behalf.

“Another thing: before you mentioned that Kelly Rivera ‘conveniently’ had amnesia, just fucking state it next time. You think Natalia _somehow_ managed to knock Kelly in _just_ the right place with right amount of force – which, if you ask me, sounds extremely improbable. Kelly was hit in the head and suffered damage, I think _drugs_ would be a far easier way to ensure amnesia than hoping that a slam to a mirror will work.”

“Perhaps she slipped something into Ms Rivera’s drink,” the detective counted.

“Bullshit, _I_ served the drinks as Red- Natalia, sat awkwardly in her chair. She didn’t touch the bottle and I’m _sure_ there’s video proof of that. Besides, when Kelly had blood drawn, it would have come up with drugs if any had been used.”

“Only if you’re looking for them, for all you know she could have masked it and it’s too late now to check.” Anders was fuming and resisting the urge to turn the fight into a physical one. The detective smiled at her.

“Explain to me _how_ Kelly or Nico would have even discovered anything about Natalia and then both of them let her know they knew. They’re soldiers _detective_ , they know stealth, especially Nico, and they know what to do when they have information,” her eyes narrowed. “ _If_ Natalia had been a part of some ‘great’ verokin espionage, I highly doubt that Nico or Kelly would have managed to be as stupid as to get caught.”

“They would have been surprised, a friend-”

“They each knew her for an hour. Friend or not, we’re trained soldiers detective. No, you know what, this is bullshit. If the Council charges Natalia over this then they’re _far_ stupider then I ever thought and nothing can save Natalia,” she gave a final glare and stalked off back to her seat and noisily sat down, fuming as she glared down at the detective.

Natalia swallowed awkwardly. Anders was trying to help but she was pretty sure that insulting the Council was not the best way to go at it. In fact, it seemed like the odds were stacking up higher against her.

The Council, displeased at Anders, dismissed the detective. “Without further evidence, the Council holds Natalia under the suspicion of murder.” Natalia sighed, shoulders falling slack. It seemed like nothing new had happened. Sulking, she leaned over the bannister and continued to look down. Again, she adjusted the shirt as the Council began to rattle off something else about her. She was tired, she hadn’t be able to sleep much the night before.

Shutting her eyes briefly, she stretched her body and repressed a yawn in case anyone thought she was bored.

“...Mrs Swforza confirmed the story.” Natalia almost jumped at the name and had to clamp her jaw down on her tongue to stop from shouting out. She watched as one of the High Council members read from his data-interface, “Mrs Swforza stated that the two had been having an affair for the course of the year and that she’d wanted to take Ms Shaw to see the stars. Halfway through their evening, the two were interrupted by slave drivers who took both Ms Shaw and herself, mistaking them for their monthly collecting of ‘slaves’. Ms Swforza, when her husband found out, was promptly returned unharmed though she believed Ms Shaw to be dead.”

Natalia gaped down. Evangeline was alive, well and she _confirmed_ the story. Staring down with wide-eyes, she felt her stomach loosen with relief. Then glow warmly. Evangeline. She’d thought she was dead. She didn’t know. Maybe… _maybe._

“She confirmed it,” Natalia whispered softly with a large smile. “She…”

“With the evidence, Ms Shaw’s tale has been confirmed true.” Relief flushed her system as she whispered a quick prayer to whoever had saved her. “However, in light of this new evidence, Ms Natalia Shaw cannot be allowed to return to Earth.”

“What?” she shouted. The Council all looked up at her, some narrowing their eyes at the readings interruption. “Sorry, I mean...why can’t I go home?”

“You have been exposed to too much of this galaxy. Returning to Earth would upset the the careful balance that had been installed for the future of mankind. If you were to return, a rebellion would outbreak. At this time, the Council has classified you dangerous, under such terms, you can not live anywhere with a population raised over ten thousand until the threat of the verokin beast has been subdued. Also, you will not be allowed to live upon a planet’s surface until further evidence is provide.”

“Why don’t you kill the beast?” Natalia demanded. “It’s causing more harm then good!”

“I’m sorry Ms Shaw. The Council has determined that the area is _off limits_ unless help is requested. Regardless of the stunt you pulled, the truce remains in place with the verokin mineworkers in the area.”

“But why am I...why can’t I stay on a planet?” she felt her body become weak, shaking as she began to understand just how bad the situation she was now placed in was.

“You’ve been charged of murder. Until undeniable evidence arises proving that you did not kill Mr Santengo Nico, than you are not allowed to live on a planet, nor will you be granted citizen rights.”

“What are citizen rights?”

“You can not own property, and only jobs with a classification allowing individuals under the charge of murder will be allowed.” Natalia’s mouth fell open.

“W-what jobs are that?” Unshakeable fear tightened her stomach. She already got the sense that she knew what her outcome would be. She couldn’t own a house, live on a land. She had lost everything by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“I’m sorry Ms Shaw, that’s not our area. This meeting is adjourned until further evidence can be put forward, Ms Shaw’s security with the military is broken and all evidence provided shows that no one, but Ms Shaw, appears to be at fault.” Natalia shook her head wildly. She was unprotected. Unsafe and soon she’d be forced off the Hub.

“Where do I go?” She shouted.

“I’m sorry Ms Shaw,” a council member spoke as the others began to arise and file out of the room, “that’s now our jurisdiction. If you request leave of the station you may speak with immigration.” Natalia nodded dumbly as the man left. The only way she could get out of the situation was to kill the beast and _then_ prove who murdered her.

Or wait until the cycle turned over and she was no longer marked. But she wasn’t even sure if that was yearly, monthly...perhaps it was only weekly and it was all over? No, even she knew it wasn’t that.

Natalia shook her head and stumbled down the corridor, holding onto the wall to help her walk before she bursted out a doorway and found herself face-to-face with the Admiral.

“Sir?” she found herself whispering, “ah...how can I help you?”

“I read the statement. I appreciate you not mentioning Ms Anders anger and stating that she merely ‘directed Nico’ to take you back to the ship for safekeeping. Due to that, I believe I owe you gratitude.”

Natalia frowned. Her mind was foggy, still in shock over what happened. “Excuse me, but I don’t think I understand. I mean...I just told it like it happened. I didn’t really... _think_.”

The man smiled, “if you had mentioned Ms Anders anger directed towards you they would have believed she’d been emotionally conflicted and her decision was made with poor judgement. However, you had mentioned nothing of Ms Anders emotions and in result, lead the Council to believe that Ms Anders had made the best decision she could.”

“She did though,” Natalia replied, “I mean, even though she was pissed at me, it was the right decision.”

“Yes.”

“I...okay,” Natalia didn’t argue and shook her head. “No thanks needed, honestly. I was just...as I said before, I didn’t really think about it, I just kind of recited my statement and the VI wrote it down before it took my blood,” she narrowed her eyes and unconsciously rubbed her arm. “I think I’ve had more blood taken from me these last few weeks than I’ve ever lost my whole life.”

“You’re a survivor, Ms Shaw. You don’t give up.”

Natalia’s lips pulled back in an awkward smile. It wasn’t true. She wanted to give up plenty of times. It seemed easier than dealing with all of this. Niha was a great example at how she just wanted to give it all up, even now she felt tempted to return. “Thanks,” she finally replied. She stared at him for a few moments before stepping forward. “There’s not a...a chance for me, is there? To join the military?”

“I’m afraid not. Your record would blacklist you.”

“But I’m innocent. If I can just _prove_ that, could I join? Enlist, that is?”

He breathed in, shoulders squaring. “I would advise you didn’t, Ms Shaw. Regardless of the accident, a good soldier died looking after you. Another was hurt. People don’t take kind to rumours such as this. My advice for you would be to prove your innocence and find a new start.”

Natalia’s stomach dropped. Swallowing, she felt as though his words had struck her throat. “Okay,” she smiled, blinking quickly. Stepping backwards, she tried to find her ground again. “I’ll...I’ll try that.”

“I am sorry, Ms Shaw. But this is a difficult situation.” She didn’t reply, nodding so he wouldn’t hear her voice crackle. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to speak with Lieutenant Pike about a job opening.” He gave a last smile at her before leaving.

Natalia stared after him. Shaking her head, she sniffed back the tears and steadied herself. She wouldn’t be left a sobbing mess after all that’s happened. She was better than that, dammit.

“Hey, so...that was pretty brutal,” Thane said, appearing. Natalia jumped wiping her face before she turned to face him. Williams appeared beside him and nodded. It took a few moments to realise that they were talking about the court case and not the Admiral.

“Oh, yeah. But Anders stuck up for me. That...that meant a lot, actually.”

“Don’t read too much in it.” Anders said, she stepped forward beside her boys, placing a hand onto her hip. “I’m still pissed about you being too naive for your own good. I’ll tell you though, do it again and I’ll be more than pissed.” Natalia stared into the green eyes, there was no doubt in her head that Anders would keep to her word.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Anders smirked, giving a sharp nod before she flicked her hair over her shoulder and cast a look to the Admiral. “So, I heard what he said. Rough, but there are other jobs.”

“Like what?”

Anders eyes slid to hers again. “Up here? Not much, janitorial duties, minor part time work. Stuff no one else wants so they’re pretty desperate. There are a few factory stations you can get put on…” she stopped, watching as Natalia began to blink. “Look, they’ll find some proof, it’s just going to take time, after that it’s just matter of getting through immigration.”

“Who will? There’s probably a thousand crimes happening here, I doubt they’ll find out.” Natalia stepped back, crossing her arms. She wouldn’t cry, she refused to fucking cry. “This is bullshit. Even if...even if I have some bad karma for sleeping with someone’s wife, I don’t deserve this!”

Williams shrugged awkwardly, even Thane looked away.

“Suck it up,” Anders said. “Make do with what you got. People have it a lot worse than you.”

“Fuck you,” Natalia bit, “I lived on Earth.”

“So then, this is still a step up then? You were some call centre girl there, right? Go do that here. At least you’ll have a better life. You won’t die from a paper-cut infection.”

“And my family? My _mum_? When do I get to see her?”

Anders shrugged. “What do you want me to say, I’m sorry this crap happened to you, well I am but sorry doesn’t change it. Suck it up, move on and don’t whine about how much it sucks to be you. If you want a difference go and make it!”

“I want to go home, I want-” she cut off, not finishing the words, but Anders face darkened.

“Evangeline right? What did you think was going to happen, did you thinking that after your rich sugar momma called, you might go back and run into her arms. Pretend that this never happened?” Natalia flushed at Anders words. “Unless she comes here, she can’t look after you, princess, so I suggest that you start working.” Anders turned around and left before Natalia could utter another word.

“Don’t worry about her,” Williams said quickly as Natalia stared at the retreating form. “She’s still pissed about the detective. She needs to burn off some energy before she’s calm enough to have a civil conversation with. Wait until you catch her smoking or playing cards with the crew.”

“You guys?” she asked. Williams shook his head.

“There’s a little over a hundred people on the ship,” he corrected, “there’s the captain, the tech, the cooks, engine, maintenance...even the pilot, but _she_ doesn’t really count.”

“The pilot doesn’t count?” Natalia frowned, was mechanical or some animal-like creature? “Isn’t she a real person?”

“She’s...it’s…” Williams trailed off and looked at Thane for words.

“You have to see her to understand,” Thane finished. “It’s pretty cool, or creepy depending on how you look at it.” Natalia was only puzzled further by their words. “She’s a part of the ship, we’ll show you sometime...but not now.”

“You’re speaking as if this isn’t the end.”

“It’s not,” Williams said. “We’ll come back, this is the Hub, Red. Look, we make a pretty regular check in. About every six months or so. It’s on the board anyway. Just check ‘incoming traffic’ and come visit, we’ll stick to the same bar...and who knows.”

“Yeah, who knows,” Thane smiled. “Look, we have to go, but the lieutenant wants to speak with you. So, catch you late, alright?” Natalia turned and looked to where the lieutenant was. The Admiral was nowhere in sight.

“Catch you later,” she smiled. Thane and Williams hugged her both before leaving. There was an odd sensation in the pit of her stomach that told her she wasn’t going to see them again. Any of them. Before she could stumble, Natalia turned back to where the lieutenant was. Taking a breath, she slowly walked over to him. His expression, as usual, was unreadable.

Awkwardly, she looked to the stone statue beside him of the different Alien races, staring them over before she inhaled a deep breath and met his eyes.

“This is the end, isn’t it?”

The lieutenant handed her a data-interface. “There’s a list of places I would suggest you check out. They’ll lead you to different space stations, most of which you’ll find similar to Earth.”

“What about home? Is there anyway I can get my mum?”

“I’m afraid that’s a complicated issue. You may be able to make an appeal to speak with the council again, but unless you manage to somehow gain your citizen rights-”

“Is that possible?” she asked, “can I gain them without proving my innocence?”

“I’m afraid not, Ms Shaw. Not unless you somehow managed to save a Council member’s child or something extraordinary, even then you’d have to persuade the other members.” Natalia’s shoulders dropped, her eyes looked to the lieutenant's feet. Of course it was impossible, why would her life be easy. “Ms Shaw, I am not your guardian, but I do suggest you remove yourself from this place and work at another, smaller space station.”

“Why?”

“Areas such as these tend to grow large underground areas. Dangerous people offering dangerous jobs. You’d do well to avoid those people.”

“Not allowed here anyway. There’s more than ten-thousand people.” Natalia shrugged, what did it matter. “I just want to go home,” she said. “And I can’t, so…”

“Don’t risk your life because it seems over. You have the ability to do great things, Ms Shaw. You just need to be patient.” Natalia nodded, mulling over the words. But before she could lift her head and reply, he’d left.

She was alone in a crowded hall. Staring awkwardly at the surrounding area. Crying didn’t bite at her this time. There was a hold on her emotions, a wall holding it back and all she could do was feel the dull apathy slip over. She thought of Evangeline, of her mum and Koala. Then she thought of Anders and what Williams had said about them returning. They were just being nice, she figured. Who would want to be friends with the girl who basically hurt one team member and killed another?

Sitting down on a bench, she looked down at her hands, remembering the data-interface. The screen flicked on, files coming up. Each one linked to different places. A folder for shelters, a folder for free medical places, a folder for out-of-work and a folder for immigration to other places.

But there was nothing for her to go home, to find home. She had no money, no food and only the clothes on her back.

Natalia clamped down on the wall inside her, and rose, stuffing the data-interface back into her pocket. She began to walk outside before someone grabbed her. “Hey-!”

Tall, big and green was the first thing she noticed. Then vibrant green skin, red hair like hers and a great big smile. “Sorry,” the emerald woman said, letting go. “I was sent by someone to pick you up.”

“You were?”

“I was supposed to meet you outside of here,” she said, “about twenty minutes ago, but I got lost, sorry. I’m Sena.”

“Sena,” Natalia tasted the word, nodding, “Sorry, I’m Natalia.” The woman had a long thin nose, a wide jaw and iris’ the same colour as her skin. She was peculiar looking, but the smile was warm. “Who sent you?”

“The Council did. I’m just here to take you into custody.”

Natalia felt like she couldn’t breathe. The prison’s smell filling her nostrils again. “Into-”

“No, no. Not like that! Goodness no. I mean I’m supposed to take you into immigration. Sorry, I mean _my_ custody. I’m your…” she took a breath, running her fingers through the red hair. “I’m apparently the person messing this up completely. Sorry.”

Natalia swallowed, shook her head and felt the familiar tremble. The emotional blockage had a great big crack in it from her terror and suddenly, she began to cry. Big heavy sobs. Slapping a hand over her mouth she shook her head, trying to apologise as her eyes squeezed shut. Natalia panicked, _dammit, this isn’t fair!_

“Oh goodness, I’m sorry, so, so sorry!” The woman stepped forward, stepped back then awkwardly reached out to touch Natalia’s shoulder. Seeing that she didn’t rip away, Sena slowly stepped forward again and wrapped her up in a hug. “It’s okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” Natalia breathed in, feeling herself relax enough to think. Sena was warm, and her skin felt like it was humming.

“It-it’s not that,” Natalia said, shaking her head. Sniffing, she tried not to cry, but her jaw kept clenching and her mouth was peeling back as the sobs kept hiccuping out. It was horrible, and embarrassing. “E-everything’s gone to h-hell.”

“Take deep breaths, just...oh, ah, think of yumkins?”

“Yumkins?” her voice stretched. Sena stepped back.

“They’re...you’ve never heard of yumkins?” She reached into her pocket, pulling out a wide, flat phone and showed her a picture. “This is my yumkin, his name’s Lo.” Natalia stared at the picture. It was a great _orange_ fur ball of a creature with big blue eyes and bigger ears. Tiny hands with small claws. It looked a bit like Koala and a lot like a teddy bear, but all different kinds of strange.

“That’s really cute…” she said, sniffing awkward.

“It is, isn’t it?” She reached into her pocket, pulling out a tissue. “I’m sorry about making you cry.”

“No, it’s okay. It’s just been a long time. I miss home.” She took the tissue gladly, cleaning her face up from the mucus and tears. Smiling again, she mumbled her thanks before awkwardly staring at the floor. “So...what happens now?”

“Now?” Sena blinked, “oh! Right, shuttle. We’re getting a shuttle across this tier over to the other side. Immigration is near some coffee shops and I think you could do with a hot drink, right?”

“I...I don’t have any money.”

“Oh no, I didn’t mean...no, I just- I’ll buy. It’s okay. Sorry.”

“You don’t have to say sorry,” Natalia smiled. Sena laughed.

“I do say it a lot, don’t I? Sorry about that.” Leading her outside, she flicked through her phone, frowning. “If I’d been here on time we could have caught the shuttle leaving ten minutes ago. Well, I guess we’ll wait. Sometimes there’s another shuttle that runs. Or I guess we could take the train.”

“How long do we have to wait?”

“Not long.” She lifted her head up, pocketing her phone. “Love the hair, by the way.”

“Oh,” Natalia touched her hair, smiling. “I like yours too. Makes your skin look like emeralds.”

Sena smiled. “You’re just adorable. I like you.”

Outside was just a flat surface with buildings. Roads didn’t exist, but trees had been planted here and there. The shuttle Sena meant, Natalia assumed, was like one of the taxi cabs, but able to carry fifty or so people. From the one taking off just then, Natalia could see that it flew above and around this level of the Hub. The train, however, hung from a railing that lead in-between buildings in a series of networks. To get up, there was a staircase that lead to where the train stopped.

“Let’s take the train,” Sena decided. She began to run up the stairs quickly, two-by-two. Natalia followed, grasping to the stairs’ railing as she climbed up. The train pulled to a stop in front of the crowd on top of the stairs and everyone piled in.

Inside was exactly the same as the trains on earth, except cleaner. However, there was a sign, written in multiple languages, Natalia assumed, with a picture of a finger to lips. “What does that say?”

“Quiet carriage next door, you’re not allowed to speak or really do anything except quietly read your DI. Which is better than the silent carriage. You cough in there and everyone glares at you.” Natalia looked around, everyone was already quietly doing their own thing as it was. She didn’t understand why a quiet carriage was needed as well. “Come on, let’s take a seat.”

“So what will I be doing at immigration?”

“Discussing your options. As you’re someone who’s come from another planet not with the AU, you’ll need to do a twelve-week program so you understand the rules and regulations of the Aligned Union. For future reference, that’s just the fancy name for the people who set up the rules that go across the board of most planets; equal rights, fair pay, et cetera.”

“The government.”

“To a degree. They’re an intergalactic governmental organisation. The planets, and their space stations, all have treaties with AU and they follows their laws. Within that, they have their own laws. And then there are countries, states, territories. It’s all very confusing, but so far it seems to work.”

Natalia thought on the verokins and the peace held between them. “There’s a war coming,” she said.

“Well of course there is. Many of the planets are at war with each other. It’s normal. Sometimes the AU steps in but usually-”

“No, there’s a war coming. A galactic war,” Natalia said. “The verokins-”

“Oh. Them. No, they’re busy with their own issues. We have a peace treaty with them anyway,” she shrugged. “Anyway, this talk of war is dark, why don’t I explain what the immigration process is?”

Natalia didn’t think the conversation had touched on darker themes, but she shut her mouth obediently and listened as Sena explained the twelve week program, followed by the immigrations process. She was going to be given a social worker who would help her choose and find a job. She would then be offered a share house with others in her situation, and there would be follow-ups to make sure she’s obeying the rules set.

That and to make sure she didn’t plan on committing suicide any time soon. Apparently the penalty for attempted suicide was pretty high _and_ it was a debt that carried on to families (if the person had a family).

“So my mum?”

“Would receive the debt, yes. Even though Earth is not part of UA, it is under human law, and because you are the child of her, well, you can see how this is going.”

Natalia she her eyes, refusing to react. “Right,” she said, gritting her teeth.

“It’s a very simple process, you’ll fall right into the swing of things soon and- Oh this is our stop.” Sena jumped up and began rushing out the doors before Natalia could comprehend what she’d said.

Slowly, Natalia rose as well, hesitating only briefly as she wondered how easy it would be to just stay on board and go somewhere else. Reason kicked in and she realised that she had nowhere else to go. Taking another step, then another, she followed Sena out of the doors, down the steps and climbed down to the ground again. The area looked almost the same as where she’d been before. The shuttle station only five hundred metres to her right.

“Here,” Sena said, pointing to the building. Natalia stared up at the stone and glass tower. It was tall, grey and dull, ugly in the otherwise beautiful city. But she followed the emerald woman inside obediently. Grey carpet and printed pictures of flowers lined the wall before she was lead into a small waiting room with one other person and three other chairs. “Just, err, stay here while I go and organise everything.”

Natalia sat down and watched as Sena rushed back into the hall, down further to where Natalia assumed her office was. “Quinn,” someone said, poking their head in. The person nearby Natalia rose and left. She was left in the room, alone with nothing but a clock on the wall.

Well, she still had the data-interface. Sighing, she lolled her head back on the spine of the seat. She wanted this to be over already. All of it, over.

“Nice hair,” someone commented. A man, Natalia realised, looking at him. He stepped into the room and took a seat beside her. Natalia blinked at him. Blue hair, black eyes and dark skin. “You don’t look the usual suspects. Where are you from?”

“Earth,” she replied.

“Oh, you’re the girl that was hanging out of the car,” he grinned, flashing white teeth. Natalia nodded, her skin shivering. She’d made an impression. In her defence, it had been an accident. “What are you doing here?”

“Immigrating.”

He snorted. “Just starting off, I take it? Good luck with that. Twelve week program before you even get a bed. They give you protein meals at least. And a cold shower.”

Natalia stomach turned. _He’s lying_ , she told herself. _They wouldn’t treat immigrants that way._ “What are you doing here?”

“Providing documents to show that I’ve fully immigrated here. Means I get my microchip removed.” he smiled.

“You have a microchip?”

“Yeah. Didn’t they tell you? You get one too. So you’ll be monitored constantly, make sure you’re not doing a single thing out of line. One wrong thing and you’re off to prison.” Natalia swallowed dryly. On earth, prisoners were experimented on. Only the really unlucky and the worst were put into jail, so far, she seemed to be the former. Blinking, Natalia tried not to cry.

She didn’t want to be a prisoner, but being microchipped, monitored, told to do this and that. Follow their rules. Well. “Isn’t that kind of like being a prisoner, anyway?” she asked hoarsely.

“They allow you to go to work, and come back to the shelter you’ll be given. That’s all you’ll need to do. For the first few weeks it’s fine,” he shrugged. “Once you’ve payed off your expenses you’re done.”

“Paid off my expenses?” Natalia asked.

“What? You didn’t think this was government supplied, did you? That’s why it’s so difficult to get out. People spend two years trying to pay of their debts, sometimes more.”

“Two years? But...but I’m innocent! They said-”

“Immigration is the same for everyone who comes. Felon or not. You just got the short end of the stick is all,” the man sighed, stretching his arms. Natalia watched as he then dug into his pocket and pulled out a white card, handing it out for her. “I tell you what, if you decide the twelve week program isn’t to you’re liking, or the job they provide you with pays pretty crappy, call Veetah’Saey, the good doc will see if you’re worth the trouble.”

“Worth the trouble for what?”

“A job,” he said, laughing. “They start you off easy; pick ups, drop offs in the local vicinity. Work hard enough and you’ll get good money. Get to see the universe. It’s a way to expand the limits of your microchip. If you choose to immigrate, that is.”

“The universe?” Natalia asked, suddenly interested. “Any chance of going to Earth?”

“Earth?” he blinked. Frowning her though over it. “Not sure. Could do. They go all over looking for things here and there. Mostly dropping off food.” Natalia clung to the card, looking over the number. “Why are you helping me?”

“You think this is me helping you?” he snorted, shaking his head. “Anyway, my number’s up. I’ll catch you later maybe.” With that, he offered Natalia a wink and left. The entire situation was surreal, but she was left with a card in her hand and hope that she could get back to Earth.

“Hey!” Sena said calling after him, “You’re not supposed-” she sighed, leaning against the doorframe. “Do you know where Meena said he was going?”

Natalia blinked. “He said his number was up.”

Sena frowned, looking out of the hallway before she sighed. “He didn’t talk to you or anything, did he?”

Natalia opened her mouth, and thought better of her answer. “No, why?”

“He’s trouble, that’s all. He shouldn’t be here.”

“He said he was finalising his immigration process.” Sena frowned, shaking her head. “I take it he’s not doing that then?” Natalia’s hand clamped over the card, wondering if it’d all been some trick.

“I don’t know what he does, but he hangs around here. Sorry, I wouldn’t have put you in here if I’d known he was skulking around.” She smiled at Natalia, nodding her head down the hall. “Come on, I’ll begin the process. We need to get you microchipped- but don’t worry, it’s just a thing to keep you safe and all.” Natalia’s heart froze. Safe. Yeah, right. Fuck that.

“Actually…” Natalia asked, smiling politely. “Could I use the bathroom first, before we begin?”

“Bathroom?” Sena frowned. “Sure. It’s just through that door,” she pointed to the door, oddly marked. “Oh, right. I’ll put education down on your process, I forgot Earth didn’t the You-el.”

“What’s You-el?”

“Universal Language, shorthand known at You-el. Don’t worry, we’ll get you up to speed with all the good slang.”

“That would be great,” Natalia smiled, rising to her feet. “Right through here?” she asked, pointing to the bathroom.

“Yep.”

Natalia pushed through the door. It was a normal bathroom, clean and sparkling. But a pubic bathroom not dissimilar to Earth. Pushing open the window, she kicked out the fly screen and pulled herself up. Her muscles resisted, god, her _leg_ resisted. Pulling herself through, she landed in the between of two buildings. One way, out.

Making a dash for it, she ignored her leg’s resistance and pushed herself painfully. She wanted an elevator, but there was none of this level. A cab would cost money. She made a run for the crowd, pushing through until she blended in. People growled, snarking at her. She didn’t care.

With the crowd, she climbed into the train and pushed her way into a seat. Someone’s walking stick hit her, she didn’t notice, didn’t care for the elbow to her face. Sitting down, she took a sharp inhale and breathed out slowly. Stretching out her damaged leg, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the business card.

“Excuse me,” she said, looking to the person next to her. “Could I borrow your phone for a moment?” The person glared, his grey skin sagging low on his large features. “Please, I’m late to visit my grandmother and she’ll be ringing all the hospitals if I don’t inform her.”

The man looked at her suspiciously. Beside her, someone handed her a phone. “You don’t have to lie,” they said. Natalia blinked. The person was gorgeous, high cheekbones, dark skin with gold eyes. Their voice too, was low and warm.

“Thank you,” she breathed, managing to not stutter and she took the phone. Looking back down at the number, she fumbled with the phone. The person took pity on her, taking the phone and the business card from her and dialling it. “I take it you’re not a local,” they said.

“That obvious?”

“Yes.”

Pressing dial, Natalia lifted the phone to her ear. “ _Doctor Veetah_ ’ _Saey_ ,” a feminine voice spoke. Natalia imagined some alien with six eyes and blue hair, holding the phone to her ear. Someone who could help her.

Taking a breath, she felt her mouth go dry. “H-hi, um, I was given your number by Meena?”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Most of this has been written (sitting on 72 000 at the moment) I would love to re-write, edit and fix some issues. Mostly posting for people's comments, or just enjoyment I suppose. So if you have any comments (good or bad) I would love to hear them.


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